A growing number of Americans are ending up homeless as soaring rents in recent years squeeze their budgets. According to a Jan. 25 report from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, roughly 653,000 people reported experiencing homelessness in January of 2023, up roughly 12% from the same time a year prior and 48% from 2015. […]
Navigating conversations about the choice to raise a child alone is a nightmare, perhaps because it sometimes feels like it wasn’t a choice at all. In The Two-Parent Privilege, Melissa S Kearney emphasises that she is not trying to pass judgment or shame single parents. But she says we must discuss America’s striking rise in […]
Robert Gilbert is fed up with high prices for groceries and other necessities, and he has giving up hope that President Biden can help. “I don’t think he has really done much for us, nothing that benefits me really,” said Gilbert, 65 years old, a retiree living on a fixed income in Fenton, Mo. He […]
The economy’s good. The economy’s bad. It depends on who you ask — and increasingly which party is in the White House when you ask. It was yet another strong jobs report Friday, exceeding expectations. Almost 200,000 jobs were created last month and unemployment dropped to 3.7%, which is near full employment. People are also […]
Remember Obamacare? The fight is far from over on the future of the Obama-era health insurance overhaul. Republicans are making a list-ditch effort this year to turn the program and the money over to the state. This isn’t full Obamacare repeal, but would make a world of sense because states would be free to experiment […]
Rejection rates for all kinds of loans climbed in 2023, and application rates dropped, according to quarterly survey on credit access Would-be car buyers say lenders have been tapping the brakes hard in 2023, according to a new look at consumer access to credit. A record-breaking share of auto loan applicants say they’ve been rejected […]
Black Friday once was a single-day shopping extravaganza. Then came Cyber Monday, then Cyber Week… now, Black Friday events even pop up in the summer. What happened? Black Friday once had a simple definition: a one-day shopping blowout, when major retailers such as Macy’s and Target promised rock-bottom deals the day after US Thanksgiving. Today, […]
The cost of child care has risen so high in recent years that some parents can’t afford to work. As of September, the average household spent more than $700 a month on child care, up 32% from 2019, according to a recent report from the Bank of America Institute. The sharply higher costs are driving […]
Spooked by the high price of Halloween candy? There’s not much relief in sight. For the second year in a row, U.S. shoppers are seeing double-digit inflation in the candy aisle. Candy and gum prices are up an average of 13% this month compared to last October, more than double the 6% increase in all […]
A growing number of Americans are falling behind on their car payments, an ominous sign for the U.S. economy as high auto prices and stubborn inflation strain household budgets. Car repossessions tumbled in the early days of the pandemic as the government sent trillions in stimulus money to American homes and businesses. But repossessions have […]
President Joe Biden’s dogged focus on “Bidenomics” is starting to cost him. For months, Biden has built up his economic platform as the central tenet of his reelection pitch, even in the face of worsening polling and as some national Democrats have urged the president to reframe his campaign message. The president’s team has argued […]
