San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly and Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin on What's Actually Happening in the Economy

San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly and Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin on What's Actually Happening in the Economy

From Let's Appreciate by Kyla Scanlon

January 9, 2026 · 32 min · Season 11 · Episode 6

About this episode

Kyla Scanlon discusses the current state of the US economy with Fed Presidents Mary C. Daly and Tom Barkin, exploring historical lessons and future outlooks.

I sat down with President Mary C. Daly, President and CEO of the San Francisco Federal Reserve, and President Tom Barkin, President and CEO of the Richmond Federal Reserve to talk about the current state of the US economy as we go into 2026. We look back to the past, particularly the 1970s and the 1990s, to understand what those periods can teach us about inflation and policy decisions today. We also talk about the persistent uncertainty we are facing in geopolitics and technology, and the growing gap between the economic data and how people feel. We talk about the headwinds we are facing and the tailwinds to be excited about. And finally, we spend time on what’s often missed in these conversations - the sources of resilience and the reasons that there is still room for optimism. Full transcript at kyla.substack.com

People in this episode

Host: Kyla Scanlon

Guests: Mary C. Daly, Tom Barkin

Topics covered

  • US economy
  • inflation
  • geopolitics
  • technology
  • economic resilience
  • policy decisions

Keywords

  • economy
  • inflation
  • geopolitics
  • technology
  • economic data
  • resilience
  • optimism

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: San Francisco Federal Reserve, Richmond Federal Reserve

Places: US

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