Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell says he thinks there's a good chance for a "soft-ish" landing: taming inflation without pushing the economy into recession. But how difficult will that be? Economist Jason Furman joins Josh to talk about this challenge and what might be needed if the Fed’s rate hikes over the next few months prove to be far from enough — plus, how student debt cancellation could exacerbate inflation. Jason talks about the clear path ahead for the Fed in the short term, and he recounts lessons learned from the Obama administration's attempt to change the tax status of 529 college savings plans.

Become a subscriber to Very Serious and join the conversation about this podcast episode at joshbarro.com.

We are now offering episode transcripts. You can see this episode’s transcript here.

The Very Serious podcast is now hosted directly on Substack. If you already subscribed to the podcast, it should still be coming into your player of choice, just like before. Technical issues with your feed? Email podcasting@substackinc.com for support. For any other inquiries, please email mayo@joshbarro.com.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.joshbarro.com/subscribe