Business, community, and government leaders are growing increasingly alarmed that the populist and ideologically conservative House Republicans may endanger Congress’ ability to approve an increase in the federal debt ceiling, a move crucial to avoiding the nation’s first-ever default and a calamity in the financial markets. The federal public debt […] Read more »
Americans Largely Pessimistic About U.S. Prospects in 2023
Coming off several challenging years, Americans enter 2023 with a mostly gloomy outlook for the U.S. as majorities predict negative conditions in 12 of 13 economic, political, societal and international arenas. When offered opposing outcomes on each issue, about eight in 10 U.S. adults think 2023 will be a year […] Read more »
The Public’s Health Care Priorities For The New Congress
With the rising cost of living at the top of the public’s mind, the latest KFF Health Tracking poll finds that the public wants lawmakers to prioritize the economy and combatting inflation in the upcoming Congressional term. When asked specifically about health care priorities for Congress, passing a law to […] Read more »
Inflation Expectations Decline Across All Horizons; Income and Labor Market Expectations Strengthen
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Center for Microeconomic Data today released the November 2022 Survey of Consumer Expectations, which shows that inflation expectations decreased in November at the short, medium, and longer terms. Home price growth expectations continued to decline. Labor market expectations strengthened, while household income growth […] Read more »
Facts, Feelings and Rural Politics
The hard-right turn of rural America has become a key factor in our nation’s troubled politics. Rural voters are a declining share of the electorate, but their turn to the MAGAfied Republican Party has been so sharp that, combined with the way our political system underweights urban voters, the radicalization […] Read more »
What the Student-Loan Debate Overlooks
A core conservative critique of President Joe Biden’s executive action on student-debt forgiveness is that the plan requires blue-collar Americans to subsidize privileged children idly contemplating gender studies or critical race theory at fancy private colleges. That idea, articulated by Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, among others, aims to […] Read more »