Shows / The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
Lucas and Luna dissect the machinery of public finance — how governments borrow, spend, and tax — without the political theater. Each episode examines a single fiscal lever: a stimulus check's ripple through consumer debt, the bond market's reaction to a budget deficit, or the real cost of infrastructure spending. Lucas traces the Treasury's cash flows with a fountain pen across an abstract budget breakdown, while Luna presses on the human outcomes: which households actually benefit from a…
Episodes
The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public SpendingHow Federal Grants Quietly Shape Your City
We look at how federal discretionary grants, specifically the $2.5 billion Infrastructure for Jobs and Prosperity allocation, flow through state capitals to…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
The Real Cost of Your Tax-Free Groceries
We dissect the hidden mechanics of tax-exempt food items and how they reshape local retail economics. With Lucas and Luna, we explore why your morning coffee…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Tax Expenditures Skew Federal Budgets
Most people think of the federal budget as a list of checks written by the government. But a massive chunk of that spending never actually leaves the Treasury…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Municipal Bonds Quietly Fund Your City
Lucas and Luna explore the complex world of municipal bonds, revealing how local governments finance essential services like schools and roads. They break down…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Fiscal Drag Quietly Slows Economic Growth
We examine the mechanical reality of fiscal drag, specifically how automatic tax adjustments during inflationary periods can unintentionally stifle consumer…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Fiscal Drag Slows Economic Growth
Lucas and Luna explore the concept of fiscal drag, a subtle but powerful force that siphons purchasing power from households as inflation pushes them into…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
The Silent Tax Of Government Procurement
We drill into the economics of public procurement, where government buying power creates hidden inefficiencies and market distortions. Lucas and Luna examine…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
The Hidden Tax on Your Morning Coffee
We explore how excise taxes quietly reshape consumer habits, using the specific case of the UK's sugar tax and its impact on beverage reformulation. Lucas…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Government Debt Crowds Out Private Investment
In this episode of The Fiscal Policy Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore the 'crowding out' effect in public finance. They examine how rising federal…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
The Real Cost of Government Insurance Programs
We examine how federal credit insurance and loan guarantees quietly distort market pricing. Using the SBA as a primary case study, we break down why guaranteed…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
The Hidden Cost of Tax Expenditures
Most Americans think of the federal budget as a ledger of spending checks written by the government. But there is a massive, often invisible second ledger: tax…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
The Hidden Cost of Government Rent Seeking
We dissect the mechanics of rent-seeking in modern public policy, moving beyond simple corruption to examine how regulatory capture distorts market outcomes…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How The Budget Baseline Skews Fiscal Reality
We break down the misleading nature of the baseline budget projection and why it distorts public debate on spending. Using the Congressional Budget Office’s…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
The Real Cost of Your Tax-Free Groceries
We dig into the hidden economics of food tax exemptions, using the recent debate in Ohio and similar policies across states to show how removing sales tax on…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Government Grants Quietly Reshape Local Economies
We explore the often-overlooked world of federal and state grants, looking at how direct funding influences local business growth and innovation. Using recent…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Tax Credits Shape Your Daily Spending Habits
We examine how indirect tax incentives like the child tax credit and energy rebates quietly influence consumer behavior more than direct government spending…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Tax Expenditures Skew Federal Budgets
Lucas and Luna dissect the often-overlooked world of tax expenditures, where billions in revenue are forgone through targeted credits and deductions. Focusing…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Federal Debt Costs Are Eating State Budgets
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the direct link between rising federal interest rates and shrinking state budgets. With the ten-year Treasury yield…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
The Hidden Cost of Public Pension Underfunding
We look at how underfunded public pension systems are quietly reshaping local government budgets and what that means for your property taxes. With a specific…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Government Spending Creates Private Sector Jobs
This episode examines the multiplier effect of federal infrastructure spending, using the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act as a case study. We break…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
The Hidden Cost of Public Procurement Monopolies
We examine how government procurement rules create accidental monopolies, using the federal cloud computing market as a case study. With billions in annual…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Infrastructure Spending Drives Private Growth
Lucas and Luna examine how federal infrastructure investment acts as a catalyst for private sector expansion, using the modernization of the national rail…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
The Silent Crisis of Underfunded Pension Funds
Public pension systems are facing a structural shortfall that threatens municipal services and taxpayer burdens. Lucas and Luna examine the math behind defined…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Payroll Taxes Quietly Shape Your Take-Home Pay
We dig into the mechanics of payroll tax allocation, specifically how state and local funding models shift when wage bases expand. Using a concrete example…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Municipal Bonds Quietly Fund Your Local Schools
We drill into the mechanics of general obligation bonds versus revenue bonds, using a specific $40 million library project to show how voter approval…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
The Hidden Cost of Government Payroll Inflation
Lucas and Luna dissect how the federal government's reliance on temporary hiring surges creates long-term wage rigidity, using the post-pandemic civil…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How The Fed Funds Your Local Library
We explore the quiet mechanics of municipal bond financing, specifically how interest rate fluctuations impact local library budgets. Lucas breaks down the…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Municipal Bonds Quietly Fund Your Local Schools
Most Americans never look at their local school board budget, yet it dictates the quality of education in their zip code. In this episode, Lucas and Luna…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Payroll Taxes Quietly Shape Your Take-Home Pay
We break down the mechanics of payroll taxes and how they silently redistribute wealth from wages to social safety nets. Lucas and Luna examine the hidden…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
The Quiet Crisis of Government Payroll
We examine how rising public sector wages are quietly reshaping local economies. With municipal budgets facing stiff competition from the private tech and…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Public Debt Crowds Out Private Investment
Episode 199 explores the often-overlooked mechanism of crowding out, where high government borrowing costs drive up interest rates for everyone else. We…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Carbon Pricing Changes Your Grocery Bill
We explore the mechanics of carbon pricing, using a specific case study of how a modest fee on industrial emissions might ripple through supply chains to…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Public Sector Pay Drives Private Wages
In this episode, we examine the spillover effects of public sector wage settlements on private industry labor costs. Lucas and Luna analyze how teacher salary…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
The Silent Tax of Corporate Debt
When companies issue debt instead of equity, they aren't just shifting risk—they are quietly raising prices for consumers and squeezing wages. We look at…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Payroll Taxes Fund Social Security
We break down the mechanics of FICA and why the payroll tax cap creates a structural revenue gap for Social Security. Lucas walks through the $168,600 wage…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
The Quiet Crisis of Underfunded Public Schools
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the structural reality of American public education funding. They examine how reliance on local property taxes creates…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Social Security Reform Could Change Your Retirement
Social Security is facing a structural funding gap that most Americans don’t fully grasp until they are close to retirement. We break down the specific…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How State Budgets Manage Payroll Surges
We explore the mechanics of public pension fund contributions and why state governments face sudden, massive bill payments every few years. We look at how…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Municipal Bonds Quietly Fund Your Local Schools
This episode dissects the mechanics of general obligation bonds versus revenue bonds, focusing on why voters consistently approve school levies while…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How The Fed’s Balance Sheet Shrinks Inflation
In this episode of The Fiscal Policy Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore the mechanics of quantitative tightening. With the Federal Reserve actively reducing its…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Government Debt Crowds Out Your Retirement Savings
In this episode, Lucas and Luna examine the indirect tax on private capital caused by sovereign borrowing. We look at how municipal bond yields compete with…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
The Hidden Cost of Your Morning Coffee's Supply Chain
We drill into the logistics of global commodity trading to see how a single delay at a major port can ripple through consumer prices. Using coffee as our…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Supply Chain Debt Traps Manufacturers
In this episode of The Fiscal Policy Podcast, Lucas and Luna unpack the hidden crisis of supply chain finance. While everyone watches interest rates…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Public Debt Crowds Out Private Investment
We drill into the mechanics of crowding out — why high government borrowing can raise interest rates and squeeze private sector access to capital. Using the…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Public Pensions Fund Private Equity
Lucas and Luna explore how municipal pension funds, burdened by underfunded liabilities, are increasingly turning to private equity to chase higher returns…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Infrastructure Bills Quietly Redistribute Wealth
We drill into the hidden mechanics of how federal infrastructure spending actually flows through local economies. Using the American Rescue Plan and subsequent…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Public Pension Funds Fuel Private Equity
We explore the structural shift where public pension funds, driven by low interest rates and liability gaps, have become the silent backbone of private equity…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How The Federal Reserve Quietly Bought The Bond Market
We look at how the Federal Reserve's balance sheet has become a permanent fixture in global finance. With over four trillion dollars in Treasury holdings…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Tax Incentives Quietly Drain Public Schools
In this episode of The Fiscal Policy Podcast, Lucas and Luna dissect the hidden fiscal drag caused by municipal tax abatements. Using the specific case of the…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Municipal Bonds Fund Your Local Schools
Lucas and Luna unpack the mechanics of municipal bonds, focusing on how local governments raise capital for schools, roads, and utilities without raising…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Subsidies Distort Real Estate Markets
We explore how targeted government subsidies for affordable housing in cities like Boston and Seattle have inadvertently inflated rents for everyone else…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Hidden Fees Drain Public Transit Systems
We break down the hidden financial architecture of municipal transit, focusing on how fare capping and zone-based pricing create a regressive tax on low-income…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Government Accounting Hides True Costs
We explore the hidden world of government accounting, specifically how off-balance-sheet liabilities and complex financial instruments obscure the true cost of…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Government Accounting Hides True Costs
Most people think government budgets are simple ledgers, but the way Washington tracks money reveals a massive accounting illusion. We look at how cash-basis…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How The Federal Reserve Quietly Bought The Bond Market
The Federal Reserve’s balance sheet has grown to over eight trillion dollars, making it the largest single holder of US Treasuries and mortgage-backed…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Tax Loops Drain Public Resources
We examine the hidden mechanics of corporate tax avoidance strategies, specifically focusing on how multinational firms use intellectual property relocation…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
How Federal Grants Trap Local Governments in Debt
Federal grant programs often come with strings attached that force local governments to take on debt or raise taxes to meet matching requirements. This episode…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
Why Public Rail Projects Always End Up Late and Over Budget
In this episode of The Fiscal Policy Podcast, Lucas and Luna take a hard look at why public rail projects, from the California high-speed rail to German and…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
Why Governments Keep Overpaying for Construction
Governments worldwide routinely pay 30 to 50 percent more for major construction projects than private developers would. In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig…
- The Fiscal Policy Podcast with Fexingo: Government Budgets, Stimulus, and Public Spending
Why Public Works Cost So Much More Than Private
In this episode of The Fiscal Policy Podcast, Lucas and Luna dig into why governments routinely pay two to three times more for infrastructure than private…