Minimum wages should rise automatically with the cost of living

Coverage of the American economy and the policy that shapes it: inflation, employment, tariffs, taxation and the federal budget. Distinct from business news, which follows companies rather than the decisions taken in Congress and at the Federal Reserve.

Household prices for food, housing, energy, healthcare and other everyday necessities, and the economic policies blamed or credited for them. Central to how American voters judge an administration, and argued through inflation, wages, interest rates, tariffs and gasoline prices.