Crash Course: Government and Politics #48: Monetary and Fiscal Policy…

Explain the Federal Reserve's tools for controlling the money supply, including the reserve requirement, interest rates, open market operations, and quantitative easing

Describe the causes of inflation and fiscal policy's relationship to government taxing and spending

Summarize how federal tax policy has changed across recent presidential administrations, from Reagan through Obama

Identify the two largest mandatory federal spending programs, Social Security and Medicare, and why their costs are unlikely to decline

Assign as a video-viewing guide, since the questions are written to be answered 'as answered in the video'

Use the editable Word document to adapt questions for a shorter class period or add questions of your own

Require complete-sentence answers, per the worksheet's own instructions, rather than one-word responses

Note-taking from video — students record complete-sentence answers as key concepts appear in the episode.

Economic-policy vocabulary — students explain terms such as reserve requirement, quantitative easing, and supply-side economics in their own words.

Historical policy comparison — students trace how tax policy shifted across the Reagan, Bush, and Obama administrations.

Civic and economic reasoning — students explain why certain federal budget items, such as Social Security and Medicare, are difficult to reduce.