Check out David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus for a special 500th episode post! George Hall is a professor of economics at Brandeis University and formerly worked as an economist at the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank. George returns to the show to discuss the current fiscal status of the US, how the Big Beautiful Bill will impact the fiscal outlook going forward, the history of running deficits in the US, and much more. Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on June 24th, 2025 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David Beckworth on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow George on X: @George_J_Hall Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Check out our Macro Musings merch! Subscribe to David's new BTS YouTube Channel Timestamps 00:00:00 - Bumper 00:00:29 - Intro 00:01:55 - Current US Fiscal Status 00:05:45 - What Is Inflation? 00:10:18 - Fiscal Consequences of the US War with COVID 00:23:21 - World War COVID 00:25:05 - Before and After War 00:34:02 - Financing with Inflation 00:38:47 - World War II Period vs. Today 00:38:47 - World War II Period vs. Today 00:44:19 - Who Bears the Fed's Losses? 00:47:14 - How to Foot the Big, Beautiful Bill 00:52:10 - Outro

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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