Predicting the future of the economy is always a dicey proposition. That is especially true after more than three years of pandemic-related economic weirdness. No one quite knows what will happen next. Will the Fed be able to pull off a soft landing and bring down inflation without causing either a recession or a big jump in unemployment? Or will we end up with a hard landing, in which inflation comes down, but at the price of the country's economic health? Or, a third possibility, will the Fed not successfully bring inflation down at all? On today's show, three economic experts explain what they look for when trying to make predictions about what might come next for the U.S. economy. And how those indicators lead them to very different conclusions. We will also consult a tarot card reader...to see if her reading of the future can help us know which outcome is the most likely. This episode was hosted by Keith Romer, Sarah Gonzalez, and Jeff Guo. It was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler and edited by Jess Jiang. It was engineered by Kwesi Lee with help from Maggie Luthar and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Alex Goldmark is our Executive Producer. Help support Planet Money and get bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
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The other day, I invited a fortune teller to come over to my apartment.
Hello.
Hi.
Hi.
I'm Keith.
Hi.
How are you?
I'm Miko.
Come on in.
Miko Harris is a tarot card reader here in Brooklyn.
I got in touch with her from her website, moonlightreadings us.
Is this all right?
As a setup?
So I figured a table is what I assumed you would need as part of how this all works, Miko got settled in on her side of the table.
She took out her little pink cloth bag that she kept her tarot cards in, sort of.
Before we even get started, can you just sort of, like, walk me through what's gonna happen?
Usually, I just clear my mind, get myself focused and centered, and then I ask the person exactly what it is that they're looking to find clarity on.
And then I just start focusing on that in my mind, kind of repeating that question so that the universe hears it and then shuffle my deck and see what the universe has to say via my tarot cards.
Has anyone ever asked you to do a tarot reading for the US economy before?