Biden expands federal unemployment aid eligibility

Segments From This Episode

• What the expansion of federal unemployment aid covers

  by David Brancaccio and Nova Safo

  

  The headline is that people who’ve turned down work for health and safety reasons can be eligible for federal aid.

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• Those fears about inflation and higher interest rates are top of mind again with the latest data on January incomes and consumer spending out

  There were surges in household income and consumer spending in January. “We have never, even going back to World War II, seen so much spending by the federal government in such a short period of time,” said Christopher Low, chief economist at FHN Financial. “And that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily a bad thing, it just means it’s very hard to put a handle on what the economic impacts are going to be.” Low said the fear piece is that it is possible the economy could overheat and we could see higher inflation. That would mean the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates sooner than expected.

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• FCC finalizes rules for money to help low-income households get discounts on internet service, laptops or tablets

  Marketplace’s Kristin Schwab has more.

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• Will Congress consider giving marijuana companies access to big banks?

  by Nancy Marshall-Genzer

  

  Pot’s illegal at the federal level, so major banks won’t provide services. Therefore, vendors can’t accept credit or debit cards.

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