U.S. Politics

[John Corbett]

Right now, things are looking good for the Democrats going into the midterms but that can change.  9 months is an eternity in politics. An impressive amount of economic data has been posted but few Americans are going to delve deeply into that data. People vote on how they perceive things are going for them. The single biggest driver of voter turnout is the pissed off factor and that is almost always directed at the party in power. If voters see significant improvement in the area of wages vs. prices, the GOP could survive the midterms. If not, the Democrats will almost certainly take back the House and have a reasonable chance of taking back the Senate, even though they need a net gain of 4 seats to do that. In politics, perception is the reality and unless voters truly believe things are getting better economically, the GOP is in trouble.

[Royell Storing]

  This is exactly why the Dem's want to shutdown the govt. They want to slow the US economy and also stifle the posting of the economic numbers that will reflect a booming US economy. This is what happened as a result of the 1st shutdown. Even if the Dem's take the House and Senate, Trump still has Veto Power. This stalemate is not good for the US. But, the Dems could care less. As usual, this is ALL about Power & Control.   

[Tommy Shanks]

  This is exactly why the Dem's want to shutdown the govt. They want to slow the US economy and also stifle the posting of the economic numbers that will reflect a booming US economy.

Shocker: Royell Storing's "analysis" of the U.S. economy is as flat-out wrong as his analysis of the Dealey Plaza film and photo record.

[Joe Elliott]

A couple of weeks ago, I suggested that Dale Myers could do an analysis of the Renee Good shooting in Minnesota. Well, here is a 3-D analysis by Francesco Sebregondi, head of the French company Index that does this kind of analysis:

https://www.index.ngo/en/investigations/ice-shooting-of-renee-good-preliminary-3d-analysis/

Clearly the second and third shots are not justified. And even with the first shot, in the time it takes to draw the gun, he could just take one step forward and be out of the way. And it is obvious he should not have walked in front on a car with a running engine in the first place. It looks like he switched his iphone to his other hand to free up his right hand to draw his gun and positioned himself precisely where he could claim he was in some danger while actually being in a safe location where he could easily step aside.

[Joe Elliott]

Epstein Isn’t an Aberration. He’s an Inevitable Outcome - Barry's Economics

18:13

[Richard Smith]

Gas prices down.  Crime down.  Borders closed.  Drug overdose deaths down.  Stock market at record highs.  U-S-A, U-S-A.  On the other side, Epstein conspiracy theories and ICE.  With that said, the Dems have won the messaging war.  I'm sure they will do well in the mid-term elections. Not because they offer any solutions but because they are better at influencing narratives. 

[Tom Graves]

Gas prices down.  Crime down.  Borders closed.  Drug overdose deaths down.  Stock market at record highs.  U-S-A, U-S-A.  On the other side, Epstein conspiracy theories and ICE.  With that said, the Dems have won the messaging war.  I'm sure they will do well in the mid-term elections. Not because they offer any solutions but because they are better at influencing narratives.

Me: Has anything become significantly more expensive in the U.S. since 20 January 2025?

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GROK: Yes, several categories of goods and services in the U.S. have become significantly more expensive since January 20, 2025 (roughly aligning with the start of the year and the inauguration period), even as overall inflation has moderated somewhat.

Overall consumer prices (as measured by the CPI) rose about 2.4–3.0% year-over-year through early 2026, with the annual rate at 2.4% for the 12 months ending January 2026 (down from around 3.0% in January 2025). This reflects cumulative increases since early 2025, driven partly by policy factors like tariffs, alongside other pressures.

Key areas with notable rises include:

Certain groceries and food items — Food prices overall increased around 3.1% year-over-year by late 2025/early 2026. Specific standouts:

Orange juice: up ~28% since January 2025.

Ground beef: up ~15%.

Coffee: up 20–30% in various reports (due to tariffs, weather, and supply factors).

Non-alcoholic beverages (excluding coffee): up ~5%.

Other meats like pork bacon and chicken also rose.

Note: Eggs saw a sharp spike earlier in 2025 (e.g., due to avian flu) but have since fallen significantly (down ~30–34% from peaks and lower than January 2025 levels in some metrics).

Household goods and furnishings — Up 3.8–8% in various categories from January 2025, including furniture, bedding, dishes/flatware, cleaning supplies, toilet paper/paper products (5.5%), and clothing (~14% in some tariff-impacted estimates). Tariffs on imports (which rose sharply in 2025) are frequently cited as a driver, passing costs to consumers.

Energy and utilities (mixed but some sharp increases) — Electricity prices rose ~6–13% in parts of 2025, natural gas/piped gas up ~10%, fuel oil up ~7%. Gasoline saw fluctuations (some monthly spikes, but overall declines in periods like late 2025/early 2026, e.g., down in some year-over-year comparisons).

Housing and shelter — Shelter costs (a major CPI component) continued rising, around 3% year-over-year by early 2026, with home prices and related costs up in many areas (e.g., median home prices increased ~6% in some 2025 tracking).

Other notables — New cars/vehicles hit record averages (topping $50,000 in some months due to tariffs on parts/imports), health insurance and services saw pressures, and big-ticket imports (e.g., toys, electronics, bananas in earlier tariff waves) experienced outsized jumps.

These increases aren't uniform—some items (e.g., gasoline in certain periods, eggs recently, used cars in spots) fell—but tariffs implemented in 2025 (targeting imports from China, Mexico, Canada, etc.) are widely reported to have added upward pressure, contributing ~0.5–0.7 percentage points to inflation in analyses. Economists note that while headline inflation eased to 2.4% by January 2026 (helped by energy drops and base effects), core pressures (excluding food/energy) remained stickier, and essentials hit lower-income households hardest.

In short: Yes — groceries (especially select items like beef, coffee, juice), imported household goods, utilities in some forms, and housing costs have seen significant rises since early 2025, contributing to persistent affordability concerns despite the overall inflation slowdown.

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