Hidden fees, rising insurance costs, and differences between measured and perceived inflation may help explain why many Americans view the economy more negatively than standard economic indicators suggest.

One real world gauge of consumer sentiment is fast-food spending, which has been trending downward for months. 

The rise of mandatory arbitration highlights how legal rules shape economic outcomes by limiting workers’ and consumers’ access to the courts.

The abundance agenda blames regulation for scarcity, but often overlooks monopolies, private equity loopholes, and the complex realities driving housing costs.

Alan Greenspan’s legacy is mixed; he defied conventional wisdom on unemployment and inflation, but he badly mishandled two major bubbles. 

Republican claims of massive government fraud are difficult to reconcile with Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative, which failed to uncover the large-scale abuses politicians continue to cite.

Reducing Federal Reserve transparency under Kevin Warsh could increase market uncertainty and create greater opportunities for insider influence and corruption.

Reducing wealth inequality requires more than taxing billionaires; strong public services and democratic reforms are more effective at limiting concentrated economic and political power.

Rising import prices provide further evidence that US businesses and consumers, not foreign exporters, are bearing the cost of Trump’s tariffs, adding to inflationary pressures.

Trump’s war with Iran achieved little beyond terms already contained in the Obama-era nuclear agreement while exposing strategic failures and imposing significant human and economic costs.