Minimum wages, tariff policy, tax policy over decades, and the resulting national debt contribute to the K-shaped economy that is worsening conditions for lower and middle class working Americans.

12/19/2025 4:00:00 PM                Ryan Knutson      Wall Street Journal podcast – “The Journal”

It's Almost 2026. How’s the Economy?

The Middle Class Is Buckling Under Almost Five Years of Persistent Inflation

Workers growing tired of economy in which everything seems to get more expensive

By Rachel Louise Ensign and Rachel Wolfe     Updated Nov. 21, 2025

https://www.wsj.com/personal-finance/the-middle-class-is-buckling-under-almost-five-years-of-persistent-inflation-4d783aee?mod=Searchresults&pos=1&page=1

This episode explores American health care insurance coverage and who benefits. The focus is on how the existing U.S. health care and health insurance establishment affects the American middle class.

In this inaugural episode of The American Wallet, Gordon Blake and Peter S. Martin explore the relationship between recent tariffs, imposed on the United States in 2025, and taxation, starting with Tea Party.