On the Thursday, January 8, 2026, episode of The Excerpt podcast:In 2026, many Americans are feeling financially squeezed. With the stubbornly high cost of healthcare and housing, what will it take to make America affordable again? USA TODAY Finance Reporter Andrea Riquier joins USA TODAY's The Excerpt to discuss the ongoing affordability crisis.
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Dana Taylor:
Regardless of where you sit on the political spectrum, 2025 was a year of economic uncertainty for many Americans. Shifting tariff policies, stubbornly high inflation, and skyrocketing healthcare costs have left many consumers reeling. Will 2026 see a better economy?
Hello, and welcome to USA TODAY's The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Wednesday, January 8th, 2026.
The buzzword of the year is affordability. Will the new year make things a little easier for Americans or does more pain lie ahead? For more on this, I'm now joined by USA TODAY Finance Reporter Andrea Riquier. Thank you so much for coming on the show, Andrea.
Andrea Riquier:
Hey, Dana. Happy New Year.
Dana Taylor:
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani won on a platform of affordability, something PresidentDonald Trumporiginally called a hoax. But the message has been resonating with Americans. Inflation spiked during the Biden administration because, one, all the money that was injected into the economy to keep us out of a deep recession during the pandemic. And, two, worldwide supply chain snarls also stemming from the pandemic. Is high inflation still a factor in the economy?
Andrea Riquier:
Sure. It's a great question. So inflation, if you define it as the rate of change of different consumer goods. So for example, if I go into the grocery store today and I buy eggs, milk, and bread, is that a higher cost for me than it would've been a year ago or a month ago? Inflation has come down. It's not as high as it was a couple years ago. But we had a couple of years of inflation, which means that prices, the price that you're starting from is higher than it would've been, say, five years ago. So a lot of people go into the grocery store now and they see things cost so much more than they once did. So, yes, we are out of the woods in terms of skyrocketing prices, but again, they are higher than is comfortable for many Americans.
Dana Taylor:
I want to turn now to the Federal Reserve and the President's repeated demands that Chairman Powell lower rates, then urging him to step down, then trying unsuccessfully to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, all of which were unprecedented moves by this President. The Fed is of course an independent institution with extraordinary influence over the economy. What's the Fed's role exactly and could another rate cut help the economy?
Andrea Riquier:
It's a great question. And it's too bad that the Fed has become so politicized. When it comes to the economy, which is what we're talking about now, the Fed has two roles. Sometimes you hear it talked about as a dual mandate. It's supposed to control inflation, which is technically referred to as price stability, so not allowing prices to just go crazy, and also full employment. Sometimes those two goals can be at odds. So for example, if inflation is really out of control, one of the best things to do is to raise interest rates really high so people think twice before buying, starting a business, financing things. But when you do that, you sometimes damage the economy so badly that it impacts employment. People no longer want to hire, or they want to fire workers.
Would another rate cut help us right now? Probably not. I mean, there's not that many people out there saying, "Gosh, if rates were only 25 basis points lower, I would ramp up hiring. I would expand my facilities. I would start a new business." The one sector of the economy that might be helped by a small interest rate cut is buyers in the mortgage market, people looking to finance a home. And mortgage rates are not influenced by the rates that the Federal Reserve controls. So it is unfortunately a somewhat political thing to be weighing in on interest rates right now in this environment, but that's sort of where we are right now.
Dana Taylor:
Let's talk about the cost of healthcare. 22 million Americans have seen their monthly premiums go up this year. For some, it's more than doubled. Do Republicans in Congress have the political will to pass some sort of solution here?
Andrea Riquier:
Yeah, I understand from some of my colleagues in Washington that the House is going to take up a bill that would extend Obamacare subsidies and help out some Americans who are seeing higher costs, but we don't expect that to advance through the Senate, unfortunately.
Dana Taylor:
Andrea, last year saw a relatively slow job market. Are things looking any better this year?
Andrea Riquier:
Unfortunately, I don't think so. I think that there remains a lot of uncertainty in the economy. We were talking earlier about are businesses likely to expand to hire and maybe are they likely to lay people off given so much uncertainty with tariffs, with economic policy, with upcoming midterms. I would love to be proved wrong, but it doesn't look super, super promising.
Dana Taylor:
Housing has been a huge issue for many Americans nationally. Supply still hasn't caught up with demand. Gen Z in particular has expressed a lot of frustration at not being able to even enter the housing market. Are there any developments on that front that might give people a reason to hope?
Andrea Riquier:
Again, I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but a lot of the constraint in the housing market comes down to supply, as we talked about. And that's really something that happens on the local level. It's not something that mortgage rates can help with. It's not something that the federal government can mandate. It really comes down to individual cities, counties, in some cases on the state level. There have been around the country some states where they're making strides towards, for example, allowing people to build small units in their backyard, things like that, sort of on the margins may help some people in some pockets of the US.
What I'm more encouraged by is the discussion about affordability, which you started the segment with. There is a real acknowledgement that this is a problem, that we have a housing crisis, and that people are really suffering. And that is the first step towards maybe making some policy that can help.
Dana Taylor:
The next consumer price index is due out next week. What are we expecting there?
Andrea Riquier:
So first of all, I should say that we had a government shutdown for an unprecedented amount of time last fall. That really impacted the data that gets collected and then disseminated by the agencies, like the Labor Department. So we're going to have some sort of rough data for a little while. What we're expecting once we smooth through those issues is a possible spike of inflation in the spring when tax refunds come through. That's because the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was passed last summer, is retroactive, and a lot of people are going to be getting big refunds in the spring, and hopefully going out and spending them.
Dana Taylor:
It's still only January, I know, Andrea, but tax season will be here before we know it. Are most Americans going to see any relief there with the tax cuts passed in Trump's Big Beautiful Bill?
Andrea Riquier:
I think most Americans are going to see some tax relief. It is going to be a slightly more complicated tax filing system. This might be the year to reach out for professional help if you've never done it before but you've been on the fence about it. We do have some great coverage about what to expect. But the short answer is yes, temporarily at least, most Americans will see some lower taxes. Those benefits are more pronounced for higher income Americans than for lower.
Dana Taylor:
Any closing thoughts here for us, Andrea? Can you leave us on a high note?
Andrea Riquier:
Yeah, I mean, I think that there are a lot of things to be optimistic about. Unemployment is still very low. Inflation is under control. We have midterms coming up where people who are unhappy with politicians right now can express that at the ballot box. And I think one day at a time when it comes to the economy.
Dana Taylor:
Andrea Riquier is a USA TODAY finance reporter. Thank you so much for being on The Excerpt.
Andrea Riquier:
Thanks, Dana. Take care.
Dana Taylor:
Thanks to our senior producer, Kaely Monahan for her production assistance. Our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a note to podcasts@usatoday.com. Thanks for listening. I'm Dana Taylor. I'll be back tomorrow morning with another episode of USA TODAY's The Excerpt.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Will 2026 bring economic relief for America's middle class? | The Excerpt