The deterioration in the labor market is visible from space. Jobs are down, gas prices are up, and America’s working class continues to pay the price. groundworkcollaborative.org/news/labor-m...

Working families are resorting to scrapping metal and selling clothes to make ends meet. The Federal Reserve’s report should serve as a major red flag for the White House that Trump’s economy is flailing. 🔗: groundworkcollaborative.org/news/februar...

@newsweek.com with the scoop 👇 A 10% credit card interest rate cap is popular. But voters are skeptical it will actually happen. “If a credit card cap were a priority for the Trump admin, it should have been signed into law months ago,” as our Emily DiVito pointed out.

Gas prices jumped $0.11 overnight. Crude oil is ~$85 a barrel. As @alexsjacquez.bsky.social told @nytimes.com: if this conflict drags on, consumers could face higher costs in “nearly every sector of the economy.” This isn’t just about what you pay for gas. It's groceries, airfare, & heating bills.

The gym is today’s economy in miniature, highlighting a widening divide b/w higher-income households & more price-sensitive consumers who are showing signs of financial strain. In a K-shaped economy, corporations adapt to serve the wealthy — while working families are left stretching every dollar.

A Willy Wonka whistleblower called out Reese’s for swapping the real milk chocolate and peanut butter in their iconic sweet treats for lower quality ingredients. We call it “skimpflation.” ⤵️

Over the past 20 years, time spent on customer service calls has risen 60%. Meanwhile, enforcement against bad actors has been “virtually nonexistent,” as Chad Maisel told @usatoday.com.

Some of life’s hassles are costing you big time! We quantified just how much every year: 🗑️ $90B in junk fees 📄 $21.6B in insurance paperwork 📱 $25B lost to phone scams Your time is valuable. Corporations just found a way to monetize it.

Oil prices are rising after the attacks on Iran & if the conflict drags on, we could see oil spike past $100 a barrel. As @alexsjacquez.bsky.social tells @apnews.com, Americans already feel like Trump isn’t focused on what they care about most: the price of groceries & everyday essentials.

Trump says we’re in “the Golden Age of America.” As @alexsjacquez.bsky.social points out, “People don't believe it. They don't feel it in their lived experience. They still feel that their prices are too high.”

Amazon may be rigging the game against you by blocking sellers from offering you a deal. That means you could end up paying more on Amazon — even if the seller would gladly charge you less somewhere else. In other words: a lower price could exist. Amazon is just making sure you aren’t offered it.

Trump has failed to deliver on his economic promises, and he’s made health care even **more** expensive. “I think the question is whether the actual policies put forward are having the outcomes that they intend here,” says @alexsjacquez.bsky.social.

“The business of sports is starting to really suck the fun out of it for all of us fans,” @lindsayowens.bsky.social tells @ksatnews.bsky.social. The cost for a San Antonio family of 4 to attend the Houston World Cup Match would run them the equivalent of ~6 months of health insurance premiums.

🧾Tariffs acting as another tax on essentials 💡 Electricity bills soaring 📈 Health care costs spiking 💸 Household debt rising but Wages remain stagnant “There are a lot of things going on at once and it’s not good,” our Liz Pancotti told @theguardian.com.

@bloomberg.com breaks down **why** Americans are feeling so squeezed & why everything is still (!) so damn expensive. Groceries, housing, everyday & medical expenses have soared while wages haven’t kept up. “There’s nothing else I can do. I’m terrified to see my next bill,” says a 67-year old.

Even the Wall Street Journal is saying it out loud.

Corporate America is in its golden era. @kedseconomist.com explains why that’s not helping workers 🎥

As @lindsayowens.bsky.social told @yahoofinance.com, the economy used to be Trump’s “superpower.” Now? Americans oppose Trump’s tariffs ~2-to-1, & a clear majority disapprove of Trump's handling of the economy. “It’s been really an incredible reversal of fortune for the president & Republicans."

The Annoyance Economy costs $165B a year in wasted time, fees, & resources. And it hits working families especially hard: Hourly workers “can’t take that hour off to cancel that subscription… they don’t have the time to go back & forth,” @nealemahoney.bsky.social tells @marketplace.org.

@repcasar.bsky.social gets it exactly right 🎯 “Americans already work hard and will continue to. The question we face is whether that labor pays off for workers – with the time off to enjoy it – or if it just makes the very rich even richer.”

🧵: Black workers tend to be concentrated in sectors like the federal government and manufacturing. But since Trump became president, 277,000 federal jobs are gone. Manufacturing jobs are down too, thanks to his chaotic tariff rollouts.

@alexsjacquez.bsky.social spoke w/ @sarajacobs.house.gov about Trump’s economy. The labor market has collapsed. Utility prices are up 10%. “These are the prices that people are mad about that they see every single day. It's why we're seeing some of the worst consumer sentiment we’ve ever tracked.”

I took some time at home after my son’s birth. It was the most meaningful time of my life. I was lucky. But this shouldn’t be a matter of luck. All Americans should be able to take time — for a new baby, to get better or care for a sick loved one, and to enjoy life.

A Willy Wonka whistleblower has brought skimpflation back in the news. Hershey’s is allegedly cutting corners on quality and skimping on ingredients. @lindsayowens.bsky.social warns that too often we’re seeing “quality degradation paired not with cost savings, but with price increases.”

Remember the “golden age” of dating apps — when swiping was free & matches were unlimited? As our Emily DiVito put it, we’ve since seen “a degradation of app quality and match potential” alongside a sharp rise in monetization. @julianakaplan.bsky.social with the scoop ⤵️

No wonder 65% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of inflation & 75% say they want him to do more to show he’s actually focused on bringing down costs.

In his first term, Trump’s economic numbers were his “superpower.” In his second, as @lindsayowens.bsky.social told the @washtimes.bsky.social, Trump is “moving us in the wrong direction when it comes to the cost of living.”

Millions of homeowners are locked into 2-3% mortgage rates. Millions more are locked out of buying a home at all. As @bharatramamurti.bsky.social explains: We “can’t snap our fingers & build 3 million new homes overnight." But expanding assumable & portable mortgages could ease the gridlock now.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, Trump’s tariffs function as a consumer tax on food. The Joint Economic Committee estimates that American families paid $310 more for groceries in Trump’s first year.

“Any consumer looking for relief from tariff-driven price hikes did not find it at the Supreme Court,” said our @alexsjacquez.bsky.social to @cbsnews.com. Trump’s tariffs cost the average working family nearly $1,200 last year.

Inflation under Trump has cost the average family over **$1,600** in price hikes on essentials like housing and transportation – and yet he has called Americans’ affordability concerns a “hoax.”

During tonight’s State of the Union, Trump is reportedly going to “sell the economy.” Don’t be fooled by the con. Here’s how the economy has actually been doing 👇

“The economy was his super power,” our @lindsayowens.bsky.social told @bloomberg.com. Not anymore. As Lindsay noted, the political reality has flipped for Trump in his second term. Affordability was the promise, the results are a failure.

At tonight’s State of the Union, Trump may claim he’s “won affordability.” Working families know better. Inflation has cost the average family over $1,600 on essentials like housing & transportation — & tariffs piled on ~$1,300 more last year. Safe to say that the State of the Union is expensive.

The real State of the Union this year? Expensive.

That hard-to-find ‘cancel subscription’ button? Companies use it on purpose to trap us into never-ending money-sucking subscriptions. As @lindsayowens.bsky.social told @thecut.com: “The onus shouldn't be on the consumer to bob & weave our way out of this. It’s a huge waste of time, money & energy.”

Customer service wait times are up 60%. Why? Because your frustration can boost corporate profits. See our research in @fortune.com detailing how companies tax your patience — and cash-in by turning cancellations, refunds, and basic service into obstacles.

Trump’s tariffs have caused economic chaos and uncertainty for consumers and businesses alike. Don’t expect certainty anytime soon, our Liz Pancotti tells Fox 4 News.

Politicians are finally saying what’s on everyone’s mind, and that's the word: affordability. As @washingtonpost.com notes: Groundwork has helped shape the conversation by shifting it away from abstract economic jargon and toward how the economy shows up in people’s day-to-day lives.

Working families are drowning in credit card debt—paying 25-30% interest while big banks post record profits. Trump promised a 10% credit card interest cap but has failed to follow through. Another promise broken.

Excellent op-ed from @superwuster.bsky.social on the business model of price gouging highlighting our research on how corporate greed—not rising costs—has fueled higher prices.

“Any consumer looking for relief from tariff-driven price hikes did not find it at the Supreme Court today.” That's our @alexsjacquez.bsky.social in @cbsnews.com ⤵️

Once prices go up, they rarely come back down. And it's working families that are footing Trump’s bill. As our @alexsjacquez.bsky.social told @usatoday.com, many businesses have already said they’ll raise prices *this* year because of tariffs paid *last* year.

Today’s Supreme Court ruling won’t bring relief to working families. As @alexsjacquez.bsky.social said: “Any consumer looking for relief from tariff-driven price hikes did not find it at the Supreme Court today.” The damage to business investment & family budgets will linger long after today.

Our new report on the Annoyance Economy shows how corporations can make up to 200% more revenue by making it more difficult to cancel a subscription. “I'm looking at you, gym memberships, by the way.”

With algorithmic pricing on the rise, we’re about to lose something we’ve always counted on: a price tag that simply tells you the price with no games or guesswork. Our @lindsayowens.bsky.social chatted with @politico.com about the dangers ahead and what policymakers can do about it.

Our @groundwork.bsky.social report provides: 📊 Polling showing frustration + bipartisan support for action 💰 A tip-of-the-iceberg $165B cost estimate 📗 A playbook to tackle annoyances in health insurance, spam calls/texts, customer service, & junk fees groundworkcollaborative.org/work/taking-...

It was a kick to join the great @kairyssdal.bsky.social on @marketplace.org to discuss new work w/ Chad Maisel on the Annoyance Economy -- the hassles in health insurance, telecom, customer service, and junk fees that waste our time and money 🎧: www.marketplace.org/story/2026/0...

Making it harder to cancel a subscription can boost corporate revenues by over 200%. Americans overwhelmingly support bans on hidden or extra fees, and policymakers should act to protect families and restore trust. Read the @groundwork.bsky.social report: groundworkcollaborative.org/work/taking-...

Americans lose at least $165 billion a year navigating the “Annoyance Economy,” from customer service hoops to junk fees & spam calls. @alexsjacquez.bsky.social says these practices harm low-income families, erode trust in institutions, and enrich corporations without any productive return.