Federal Reserve official says fighting inflation likely to be ‘painful’ Associated Press · Sept. 21, 2026
Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said persistent inflation pressures from supply shocks, including higher oil prices and tariffs, could require additional rate increases and create a tougher trade-off between inflation and employment.
ANMP Insights
Grocery costs were the sharpest economic pain point in ANMP’s February survey: 78% said grocery costs were on the wrong track. (link)
60% ranked grocery prices among the two economic indicators that mattered most personally. (link)
35% said falling grocery prices would do more than anything else tested to convince them the economy was moving in the right direction. (link)
Trump announces all 50 states joining Medicaid drug pricing model Associated Press · Sept. 18, 2026
The administration says all 50 states will participate in a Medicaid model designed to lower the net prices of selected prescription drugs, while outside experts say the eventual savings remain uncertain because the underlying deals are not public.
ANMP Insights
Premiums are voters’ top health-care concern: 31% name premiums as their greatest overall concern, rising to 37% when the question focuses specifically on health-care costs. (link)
34% say insurance companies are the part of the health-care system most in need of fixing; 58% hold insurers more responsible for premiums and 53% for out-of-pocket costs. (link)
39% call requiring insurers to pass 100% of medicine discounts directly to patients a top reform priority, and 37% say the same about stopping PBMs from profiting by steering patients toward higher-priced drugs. (link)
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard warns US over escalation, and other Mideast developments
Associated Press · Sept. 21, 2026
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard warned of further escalation as fighting continued and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remained disrupted, keeping military, diplomatic, and energy risks in focus.
ANMP Insights
In ANMP’s September Occam survey, diplomatic negotiations were the most-supported U.S. option on Iran at 44%, followed by continued economic sanctions at 38% and naval action to keep the Strait of Hormuz open at 36%. (link)
Ground troops were the least-supported option, at 13%. (link)
The nuclear-threat argument was most often selected as the single most convincing argument for U.S. action, at 17%; intelligence warnings that Iran or its proxies could strike inside the United States ranked second, at 13%. (link)
The Strait of Hormuz and gas-price argument drew the highest “very convincing” rating, but it also produced the strongest backlash among respondents who said an argument made them less supportive of U.S. action. (link)
The "unsustainable" $40 trillion dollar Debt Crisis is the most neglected crisis facing America. Interest Debt Service is one trillion dollars and will soon be $2 trillion, according to most fiscal experts. Social Security and Medicare will implode in 6 to 7 years. 2050 is the projected waterfall date. A bold, new fiscal policy is needed, now!
I agree with Robert Deighton below. Government spending and general mismanagement of our money. (Especially the insane borrowing.)
Unchecked, this will lead to hyperinflation at some time. If you think $5 is too much for a gallon of gas, just wait till a gallon of milk is $10,000…