A tariff is a tax on imported goods paid by the U.S. importer, not the foreign country. Who actually absorbs the cost, the legal authorities behind U.S. tariffs, why trading partners retaliate, and what the WTO trade framework says.
Monetary policy is the Fed’s domain (interest rates, money supply). Fiscal policy is Congress and the President (spending, taxes). Different controllers, different tools, different timelines — and sometimes they pull in opposite directions.
The Fed controls the overnight rate banks charge each other — but the effects ripple to credit cards, mortgages, car loans, and savings accounts. How the transmission works, why mortgages move differently than credit cards, and what rising rates mean for your household.
The Fed is neither a government agency nor a private bank — it’s a hybrid with three interlocking parts. The Board of Governors, 12 regional banks, the FOMC, and the dual mandate explained, plus every policy tool from the fed funds rate to QE.
The debt ceiling is a statutory cap on borrowing that’s separate from the budget. Why standoffs keep happening, what extraordinary measures and the X-date are, what an actual default would cost, and why other democracies don’t have one.
The national debt sits at $34+ trillion. Who actually owns it (mostly the Federal Reserve and U.S. domestic investors, not China), how debt-to-GDP compares to WWII levels, why interest payments now exceed defense spending, and what would happen in an actual default.
A $7 trillion-dollar annual plan that runs on a process Congress rarely meets on time. Where revenue comes from, mandatory vs discretionary spending, deficit vs debt, the fiscal-year calendar, continuing resolutions, and what shuts down in a shutdown.
The unemployment number comes from a 60,000-household survey, not unemployment-insurance claims. How U-3 is built, who doesn’t get counted, what U-1 through U-6 measure, and why labor force participation matters as much as the headline.
GDP is the dollar value of everything produced in the country. The C + I + G + NX formula, real vs nominal, why U.S. quarterly numbers look bigger than European ones, and what GDP deliberately doesn’t measure.
CPI is the basis of every inflation headline. What’s in the basket, how the Bureau of Labor Statistics builds it, why your inflation differs from the official rate, and how CPI compares to the Fed’s preferred PCE measure.