Lessons in Pandemic Spending

Jan 19, 2024

Four years ago, the world economy faced a historic shutdown as COVID-19 began spreading across the globe. Families already living in precarity in the spring of 2020 as the lockdowns led to layoffs or forced 鈥渆ssential workers鈥� to find childcare for kids sent home from school.

Then, something miraculous happened. The United States government stepped in and began sending and expanded to Americans all over the country. Far from falling deeper into debt, many people actually and found some measure of financial stability. That story holds many lessons, which Scott Fulford writes about in his new book . Fulford is a senior economist at the and has led the development of the bureau鈥檚鈥溾€� survey sent annually since 2019 that asks questions about real and perceived financial challenges facing ordinary American families. He spoke with YES! Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on YES Presents: Rising Up With Sonali about his new book.

Sonali Kolhatkar joined YES! in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of聽YES! Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent 无码视频 Institute鈥檚 Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of聽Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice聽(2023) and聽Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence聽(2005). Her forthcoming book is called聽Talking About Abolition聽(Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women鈥檚 Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master鈥檚 in Astronomy from the University of Hawai鈥檌, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on 鈥淢y Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host鈥� in her 2014聽聽of the same name.