Director of Macroeconomics, Moody'sEconomy.com
Director of Macroeconomics at Moody'sEconomy.com
PROFILE
Gus Faucher
Guest
FROM Gus Faucher
To the Point
Economic Trouble in an Election Year For the first time since the markets reopened after September 11, the Federal Reserve today stunned Wall Street by making an emergency cut in interest rates. In 2001, it was a half a percentage point; today it was three-quarters, a week earlier than expected, and bigger than any such cut since 1982. The Dow plunged anyway, then went back up in supposedly hard-hit sectors, including home-repair and high finance. Overall, the markets were down. Is a recession around the corner or already here? The White House and Congress are working up a " fiscal stimulus package ." Will it make things better or worse? What's the role of election year politics?
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To the Point
The Trump agenda: where's the beef? President Trump says big things are happening. After celebrating a House bill on health care, he doesn’t yet have Senate agreement. With James Comey’s public testimony scheduled tomorrow, the President today tweeted his selection of a new FBI Director. Is the Chief Executive all style and no substance? Later, terror attacks in Iran and conflicting claims about who’s behind them.
To the Point
The longest US war: Will Trump send more troops to Afghanistan? The Trump White House is divided over the Pentagon's request for more troops in Afghanistan—where the US has been fighting for the past 16 years. Is there a formula -- either for "victory" or a political settlement? Is there an end in sight for America's longest war?
To the Point
Janesville and the American Dream Janesville, Wisconsin is the hometown of Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan. But he couldn’t prevent the closing of the General Motors factory after 100 years. On this Memorial Day rebroadcast of To the Point, we hear what’s happened to what once was a model of American middle-class unity.
To the Point
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.