inflation

The exterior of First Republic Bank

Regulators end week like they started — tamping down fears, rescuing a bank

BY: - March 17, 2023

Financial regulators, policymakers, and bank executives spent the week trying to abate fears that a banking crisis will spread across the U.S. financial system.  On Friday, President Joe Biden released a statement calling on Congress to take action to make it easier for regulators to hold senior bank executives accountable for their mismanagement.  “It should […]

Women walking by a 'now hiring' sign.

Powell signals higher interest rates. Here’s why Friday’s jobs report will affect Fed’s decision.

BY: - March 8, 2023

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said this week that interest rate increases could be higher and come faster if Friday’s unemployment data shows the nation’s labor market isn’t cooling off. Stock indexes fell after his comments. That’s been a familiar pattern over the past year as the federal bank has tried to combat inflation.  A […]

Girl Scout Troop 3458 presents a check to the Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas

Families are taking a hit as pandemic aid ends, inflation continues

BY: - February 27, 2023

Forty million people in the U.S. are having difficulty affording household expenses, and a little more than 25 million people say they sometimes or often do not have enough to eat, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent Household Pulse survey data.  The survey is designed to collect data on household experiences during the […]

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy answers questions from reporters at the U.S. Capitol about debt limit talks at the White House, on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

Bipartisan group predicts U.S. debt default as soon as summer, depending on tax receipts

BY: - February 22, 2023

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan think tank expects that the United States will default on its debt in the summer or early fall, if Congress doesn’t take action to address the debt limit before then.  The timeline is similar to one the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released last week, saying lawmakers have until sometime between July […]

Iowa farmland stretches to the horizon in 2019. (Lyle Muller / Investigate Midwest IowaWatch)

USDA projects farm income will fall in 2023 after two robust years

BY: - February 8, 2023

WASHINGTON — After two strong years of growth, U.S. farm income is forecast to drop substantially in 2023 as commodity prices fall and expenses rise, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service reported Tuesday. And with food prices projected to rise into 2023, the nation’s producers will not be reaping the financial benefits. The […]

President Joe Biden speaks

Biden in State of the Union address draws boos and shouts from a combative GOP

BY: and - February 7, 2023

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden began his State of the Union address Tuesday — his first to a divided Congress — with an appeal to bipartisan priorities, but later criticized parts of the GOP agenda and got a sense of Republicans’ appetite for conflict during one combative stretch. Biden opened the 72-minute speech with an […]

U.S. House agriculture leaders discuss anti-hunger measures in upcoming farm bill

BY: - January 18, 2023

WASHINGTON — The new Republican chairman of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee and a top Democrat on the panel on Wednesday laid out anti-hunger initiatives Congress could tackle in the upcoming farm bill. During a panel discussion, Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson of Pennsylvania, the new head of the Agriculture Committee, said he believes members of […]

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (left) and Sen. Jonathan Dismang (R-Beebe) talk before Hutchinson presents his fiscal year 2024 state budget at the Nov. 10, 2022, meeting of the Legislature's Joint Budget Committee. (Photo courtesy of Gov. Asa Hutchinson)

Economists predict ‘mild recession’ as Arkansas gears up for 2023 legislative session

BY: - January 2, 2023

A mild recession and a holiday spending hangover. That’s what economic forecasters predict for 2023 as lawmakers head to the state Capitol in January.   Rising interest rates and persistent inflation will push the economy into a downturn, experts say, and those economic clouds could also cause the 94th General Assembly to consider any robust spending programs […]

Girl Scout Troop 3458 presents a check to the Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas

Arkansas nonprofits prepare for possible recession, shift in giving

BY: - December 27, 2022

Philanthropic giving remains fairly steady for many Arkansas nonprofits despite continuing inflation and the possibility of a recession.  While several organizations are on track to meet their fundraising goals, some have experienced slight dips in support. But they’re not yet concerned because December is traditionally a busy time for charitable donations. “Whether we step into […]

A man and a boy draw with chalk on a sidewalk in 2021 to celebrate new monthly expanded child tax credit payments. Hopes that the credit would be revived by the end of 2022 vanished Tuesday when a major spending package did not include the proposal. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for ParentsTogether)

Child tax credit expansion left out of congressional omnibus package

BY: - December 20, 2022

WASHINGTON — Any last hopes of resurrecting the expanded child tax credit as part of Congress’ massive spending package were dashed early Tuesday when the 4,155-page bill was released without a mention of the tax benefit. The temporary expanded child tax credit, part of a COVID-19 relief deal in 2021, allowed more low-income families, including […]

In November, Colorado voters passed Prop 123, which will allow 0.1% of the state income tax rate to be used to increase the affordable housing stock among other provisions to help the unhoused. This man, who was living in an encampment in Boulder last year, said he had been on a housing wait list for a long time. (Derek Miles for Colorado Newsline)

Voters embraced affordable housing initiatives. Advocates say Congress should do the same.

BY: - December 15, 2022

Voters in Colorado approved a statewide affordable housing initiative in November, while voters in nine cities across the country OK’d measures to finance the construction of affordable housing, preserve existing rental properties and support renters. But as housing costs soar, analysts and advocates say more needs to be done and argue that federal action is […]

Here’s why food prices remain stubbornly high even as inflation cools

BY: - December 13, 2022

Shoppers hoping for a little relief at the grocery store for their holiday meals will be disappointed by the Consumer Price Index released Tuesday. The CPI shows inflation cooling but food prices — particularly for some holiday staples — remain high. The CPI increased 0.1% in November, which was lower than some economists expected. Over […]