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On today’s episode of the 5 Things podcast: Fed downsizes rate hike to a half point this month, but those in debt find little relief. USA TODAY Money & Personal Finance Reporter Medora Lee explains what recent Fed moves might mean for the economy on the whole. Plus, USA TODAY Senior Congressional Reporter Ledyard King looks at a possible government shutdown, USA TODAY Patient Safety Reporter Karen Weintraub details how Parkinson’s disease is more common than previously thought, the White House says there’s no sign the war in Ukraine will end soon, and USA TODAY Humankind Host Zulekha Nathoo tells the story of a Los Angeles woman helping to feed her city’s unhoused community.
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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
Taylor Wilson:
Good morning. I’m Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Thursday, the 15th of December 2022. Today, what the Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate hike tells us about the state of the economy. Plus, what would a possible government shutdown look like. And Parkinson’s disease is more common than previously thought.
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The Federal Reserve boosted interest rates for the seventh consecutive year yesterday, but only by a half percentage point, instead of the three quarter point we’ve seen in recent policy meetings. So what does all this mean for the economy as a whole? For more on that, I’m now joined by USA TODAY Money and Personal Finance reporter, Medora Lee. Medora, thanks for being here.
Medora Lee:
Hi, thanks for having me.
Taylor Wilson:
So Medora, what does this latest Fed rate hike mean for the average American?
Medora Lee:
For the average American, it still means the cost of your debt is going to rise. It’ll rise a little bit less than it has been every time the Fed has raised rates since it’s only a half point instead of a three quarter percentage point increase, but expect to pay more interest on your credit card debt and on your mortgage. If you have an adjustable rate mortgage, that’s going to go up that interest rate.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. As for the economy on the whole, we keep hearing the recession word thrown around. What’s next for the US economy, Medora, as we head into the new year? Is recession coming? Or is it already here?
Medora Lee:
So according to the Fed’s projections today, if we define recession generally and broadly as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth, its projections don’t show a recession through 2025. It actually sees a tiny bit of growth this year, 0.5%, and then another tiny bit of growth next year of 0.5%, but then it picks up in 2024 and 2025 to 1.6% and 1.8%. Not stellar, but that’s also not recessionary.
So that’s the Fed’s projection. If you talk to some economists on the street, they’re split. Some of them, most of them probably, say that we have to have some sort of recession before inflation cools down. So it’s hit or miss here. A lot of it depends also on the labor market. People are looking at the labor market and saying it’s way too strong. We’re just going to have to keep raising rates until we can break that strong labor market and get wage growth under control.
Wage growth has been extremely strong. I think the last time I checked it was somewhere around 5% growth for wages, and that is much too strong to keep inflation down. Wages are a big part of what feeds inflation.
Taylor Wilson:
Medora Lee covers Money and Personal Finance for USA TODAY. Thanks for stopping by.
Medora Lee:
Sure, thank you.
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Taylor Wilson:
With a government shutdown looming, the House gave a thumbs up to a stop gap spending bill, helping lawmakers buy more time to finish a broader four year spending package before a partial government shutdown takes effect midnight Friday. Producer, PJ Elliott, talked to USA TODAY Senior Congressional Reporter Ledge King to find out more.
PJ Elliott:
Ledge, thanks for joining the show today.
Ledge King:
Absolutely, thank you.
PJ Elliott:
So it was announced late Tuesday that there was a framework in place to keep the government running and avoid a shutdown at the end of next week. Do we know what each side is looking for here?
Ledge King:
Let me set the stage a little bit. The government is expected to shut… Well, the government runs out of money on Friday at midnight. Congress this week is working on extending for one more week, so Friday the 23rd at midnight, another what they call continuing resolution to keep the government open. That is supposed to give House and Senate negotiators enough time to finalize a spending bill that would cover the rest of the fiscal year, which ends at September 30th, 2023.
There are still a lot of those details being worked out and still not known, but we do know there’s about 1.7 trillion dollars that they’re talking about for a whole host of programs to keep the government running and improve or add to more programs that are already in place now.
PJ Elliott:
How confident are both sides that the spending bill gets reached before the deadline?
Ledge King:
I don’t expect, based on what I’m hearing, that there’ll be a government shutdown of any kind. The issue is – right now the Senate Democrats and the Senate Republicans are basically on board with the bill as are the House Democrats. The House Republicans are not, but they don’t really factor as much. All you would need is to get a simple House majority and the Democrats control the House and they’ve got enough votes to pass a spending bill.
But if the Senate Republicans, if there’s a hiccup, this will push it into next year, at which time, starting January 3rd, the house will turn Republican, and that means a whole new set of dynamics in trying to get a budget bill passed by then because then the House Republicans will want to have their own programs and priorities and spending cuts and tax cuts and what have you in place.
PJ Elliott:
So is there any worry that the Republicans could possibly be dragging their feet on this to try to delay it?
Ledge King:
There is some concern from Democrats that that could happen, but GOP leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, has said he’s on board with the spending plan. The Republicans wanted more defense spending. They have proposed this idea of all this domestic spending that happened under Biden, that’s happened under Biden, and they want more spending on defense, and the deal that they have in place apparently gives them enough comfort for that. So the Senate Republicans are now… are so far on board, but that could always change.
PJ Elliott:
Perfect. Ledge, thanks so much. I really appreciate it.
Ledge King:
Absolutely.
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Taylor Wilson:
Parkinson’s is a degenerative syndrome that results in the slow loss of brain circuitry involved in movement, thinking, and behavior. It can cause tremors, stiffness, slowness, and falls in addition to anxiety, depression, and sleep dysfunction, and it could be affecting more people than we think. Producer PJ Elliott and USA TODAY Health Reporter Karen Weintraub have more.
PJ Elliott:
Karen, thanks for joining 5 Things again. It’s certainly been a busy week for you in the world of medicine.
Karen Weintraub:
Yes, thanks for having me.
PJ Elliott:
So you have a story out about Parkinson’s disease being more common than we originally thought. How many people are living with the disease?
Karen Weintraub:
So the latest estimate is that about 90,000 Americans a year are being diagnosed with Parkinson’s, and that could already be an undercount. The data comes from… is about 10 years old and we think that the rates have been increasing since then.
PJ Elliott:
Do we know why they’re increasing?
Karen Weintraub:
Yeah, so it’s not entirely clear. One reason is that the American population is aging and Parkinson’s is tied definitely to aging. Your risk increases with age starting at about 60 years old. Another factor though seems to be environmental causes. It’s not clear exactly what pesticides, paraquat may be involved and some other maybe industrial chemicals used in heavy industries.
So the rate of Parkinson’s is not even across the United States. Places with a lot of older people have high rates, which makes sense, but also places like the Rust Belt where there has been historically heavy industry are also high. So it may be that there’s something involved, some chemical or something involved in heavy industry that’s increasing rates.
PJ Elliott:
You wrote about the cost of living with the disease. How expensive is it to care for Parkinson’s?
Karen Weintraub:
Yeah, the research from the Parkinson’s Foundation and the Michael J. Fox Foundation suggests that it costs about $26,000 a year out of pocket for people, for families with Parkinson’s, and that’s higher than other diseases. Not entirely sure why, maybe because of less insurance coverage.
Also, people with Parkinson’s are likely to fall, for instance, which can cause other medical problems. And there’s also a lot of mental anguish associated with Parkinson’s, so that could be adding to the cost. Certainly adds to the burden of the family.
PJ Elliott:
Has the care for Parkinson’s gotten better over the years?
Karen Weintraub:
Sadly, not a lot. There is no specific treatment cure for Parkinson’s. There is treatment, but generally after a number of years it becomes less effective.
PJ Elliott:
Karen, thanks so much. Really appreciate it.
Karen Weintraub:
Great to be here. Thanks so much.
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Taylor Wilson:
Ukrainian authorities say they successfully stopped a Russian attack on Kyiv yesterday as their air defense system destroyed 13 explosive-packed drones, according to the Associated Press. The attempted strikes show just how vulnerable Ukraine’s capital remains, but also highlights the country’s claims of better efficiency at intercepting drones and missiles.
And more air defense help is on the way, with the US set to send the most advanced surface-to-air missile system sent by the West to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February. The Russian embassy in Washington said the so-called patriot missile delivery would be another provocative step by the United States. While the US says Russia has looked to Iran to resupply its drones.
Meanwhile, authorities said yesterday that a US national and dozens of Ukrainian soldiers have been released in the latest prisoner swap between Ukraine and Russia. US Air Force veteran, Suedi Murekezi, told ABC News that he was beaten and electrically shocked by captors before being released from prison in October. And despite being released, he’d remained trapped in a Russian controlled area in Ukraine’s Donetsk region ever since. The White House said yesterday that it has no expectation that fighting in Ukraine will stop in the winter months to come.
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As you’re preparing festive meals and get togethers for the holidays, a woman in Los Angeles is helping the unhoused do the same thing. She calls herself The Brown Bag Lady, and her incredible meals served near LA’s so-called Skid Row are having an incredible impact on those she feeds. Zulekha Nathoo from USA TODAY’S good news brand, Humankind, reports.
Jacqueline Norvell:
Brown Bag Lady. We got some lunch. Brown Bag Lady.
Zulekha Nathoo:
When most of us are sitting down to intimate family dinners, Jacqueline Norvell is serving a much larger family.
Jacqueline Norvell:
It’s so important to have that family connection and that love.
[Delivering food] Red beans and rice and cornbread.
Zulekha Nathoo:
Norvell started the small operation at age 50 in her two-bedroom apartment. She wanted to help some of the approximately 70,000 people who experience homelessness every night in the city.
Jacqueline Norvell:
I got some of my Christmas bonus money and we made about 70 meals, and I didn’t know where I was going. I didn’t know where to park. I made, I think it was three or four turkeys, and I mashed some potatoes, made some greens, some yams, and just parked on a corner and we were swarmed.
Zulekha Nathoo:
The demand was clear. Now she serves 200 meals at a time as often as she can. Norvell estimates she’s handed out tens of thousands of plates since starting about 10 years ago. What she found is people come for the food.
[Delivering food] Jacqueline Norvell:
Do you want a lid? Or you want your cornbread dropped right on top?
Charlie:
Right on top.
[Delivering food] Jacqueline Norvell:
I heard that.
Zulekha Nathoo:
But they also come for the dignity. Charlie is one of her regulars.
Charlie:
They treat people with humanity. They make the homeless people want to get up and do something. They treat them with love. The food they serve is with love.
Zulekha Nathoo:
And it doesn’t end there. Norvell collects clothing donations and encourages those getting them to try them on, boutique style.
Customer:
Thank you.
Jacqueline Norvell:
[Delivering food] You’re welcome. You look great. Thank you. Now he’s warm. Nice and warm.
We rent the truck, we get a wardrobe rack, we size it. I got those little circles, small, medium. You can’t tell me I’m not Bloomingdale’s.
Zulekha Nathoo:
She says one simple gesture makes all the difference.
Jacqueline Norvell:
They always thank me for looking them in the eye. Before you look down on anyone and before you think, “Oh, they should’ve made better life choices.” You don’t know their path.
Zulekha Nathoo:
That’s why she says you can never underestimate the power of a warm meal.
Jacqueline Norvell:
It’s 200 meals again and again and again, and eye contact and love and attention, and a handshake and a hug. We have fed over 90,000 people. Until my last breath, I am going to do as much as I can for as long as I can. We’ve got to help each other out.
[Delivering food] Brown Bag Lady with lunch going up on a Tuesday!
Taylor Wilson:
Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us every day of the year right here, wherever you’re listening, right now. I’ll be back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.
USA TODAY
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