Donald Trump is just about to begin his second presidency. And it may be safe to say that every single person in America has at least one question about what's to come in the next four years.So, we thought we'd try to answer your questions — as best we can — about the economics of a second Trump term. Is now the time to shop for new tech? Can Trump actually bring down grocery and oil prices? And, does the president have the power to get rid of NPR?This episode of Planet Money was hosted by Amanda Aronczyk. It was produced by Emma Peaslee and edited by Meg Cramer. It was engineered by Neil Tevault and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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This is Planet Money from NPR.
Right after Donald Trump was reelected, we turned to you, our listeners, and asked, what do you want to know? What do you want us to cover? Do you have questions about tariffs or immigration or presidential control of the Federal Reserve or tax cuts or, I don't know, any number of things? And we got a really, like, large number of questions.
But what we realized as we started to sift through this giant metaphoric pile was that our inbox was filled with, yes, with letters, but also with uncertainty and excitement and shock. This was not an ordinary bunch of questions. Like, take this one from an academic historian.
So my name is Aaron Fountain and I live in Maryland.
Our producer, Emma Peasley, called Aaron up. Do you want to tell me about your question and why you decided to write into us?
So since the 2024 presidential election, many commentators in media have talked about how many voters voted for Trump because of economic anxiety and inequality. But I'm curious, do people think that he can actually continue to address inequality and will it actually get better or will it get worse?
Um, I will say with your question, we were like, we don't know. Like your question is a hard question. Were you expecting, like, what kind of answer did you think?
Um, I, you know, it's hard because like I said, I am a historian by training. It really takes years and sometimes decades to assess something.
Decades. Even Aaron, who wrote in with a question, acknowledges we just can't know yet. We have no crystal ball. There's no way to know exactly what will happen. And yeah, a lot of your questions, it's just impossible to answer now. But what we can do is look at how much power the president really has to shape the economy. Where does that power come from?
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