Main Street Dollars

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Car insurance is usually the one line item on a household budget that only moves in one direction. The federal government’s latest inflation report shows it moving the other way, for a second month in a row. New Consumer Price Index data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the average cost Americans pay for…

Airline fares are 23.4 percent higher than a year ago

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in Cost of Living

Flying has gotten a lot more expensive over the past year, and the government’s own inflation data confirms it by a wide margin. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the airline fares index climbed 23.4 percent over the 12 months ending in August 2026, a far larger jump than the rest of the household…

Gasoline prices did more than a third of last month’s inflation by themselves

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in Groceries & Gas

Every month, one number sums up how much more expensive the last thirty days felt at the pump, the grocery store and the rent bill combined. In August, that number moved mostly because of one thing: gasoline. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest inflation report shows the price of filling up did more to push…

The Postal Service raises package prices 6 percent on October 4, and one carrier moves a week sooner

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in Cost of Living

Package shipping is about to get more expensive for anyone mailing a gift, a return, or a small-business order this fall. The U.S. Postal Service is raising prices on its most-used package services by an average of 6 percent starting October 4, and the country’s other major carriers are layering their own seasonal fees on…

The extra Affordable Care Act subsidies expired at the end of 2025, not at the end of this year

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in Insurance

A wave of health insurance renewal notices is landing this fall with premiums well above what many households paid a year ago, and the reason traces back to a decision that already took effect, not one still pending. The extra financial help that had been holding down Affordable Care Act marketplace premiums since 2021 lapsed…

Four companies buy 85 percent of America’s cattle, and a new order targets that

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in Groceries & Gas

Two executive orders signed the same afternoon are aimed at the same number: 85 percent, the share of the nation’s steers and heifers now bought by the four largest beef packers. Forty years ago that figure was 36 percent, and the jump helps explain why cattle ranchers say they have less leverage at auction even…

HUD withdrew guidance it says cost building owners $110 million in repairs

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in Housing & Rent

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has thrown out an eleven-year-old legal theory that let disability-access complaints against apartment buildings and condos sit open indefinitely, replacing it with a hard one-year filing deadline. HUD says the old approach pushed more than $110 million in unplanned repair costs onto building owners over the past five…

The government now expects diesel to average $5.55 a gallon in the final months of the year

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in Groceries & Gas

Diesel prices are set to climb sharply through the end of 2026, according to the federal government’s latest energy forecast. The U.S. Energy Information Administration now projects that retail diesel will average $5.55 a gallon in the fourth quarter of the year, a jump the agency ties to fuel stockpiles rather than a single price…

Three hundred power companies and data-center builders pledged not to pass AI costs to households

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in Utilities & Energy

A coalition of electric utilities, cooperatives and data-center developers has grown to 317 members since March, and every one of them has put a name to a promise that the buildout of artificial-intelligence infrastructure will not quietly show up on the electric bills of ordinary households. The commitment, known as the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, now…

Housing agencies with 75 units or fewer can now leave public housing entirely

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