10/14/2026
September's CPI report came out today, and the results are awful. The top 10 percent of earners already make up 50 percent of the economy, and at 3.7 percent CPU, today's report shows that it is going to get worse. Inflation concerns will continue to linger, and lower to middle class earners will be forced to spend less.
The affordability crisis Americans are being hit with is a double-edged sword; living costs are going up, and real wages are down. Wealth is continuously being consolidated into upper-income bands while median household income is less than a family of four's minimum survival cost. It's not just oil either; healthcare premiums are expected to rise nine percent in 2027 which would mark the largest increase since the George W. Bush administration.
At the Commonwealth level, Republicans have had control of the Senate since 1994. They have used that control to stop minimum wage increases, blocked bills that would add collective bargaining rights to the state constitution, and generally shelved most legislation that came to them - only 84 of 385 bills passed by the house were enacted into law during this session. As a result of their interference, Pennsylvania is stuck with a $7.25 minimum wage, the highest effective tax rate on the bottom 20 percent of earners in the country, the lowest effective minimum wage in the nation, and a tax system where the bottom 20 percent's effective tax rate is over 2.5 times that of the top one percent's, and that's only the tip of the economic iceberg.
Change is needed at both the national and commonwealth levels, and you have until October 19th to register to vote. The votes for the state senate and general assembly are the most important in several decades. Please ensure that you're registered to vote, and be sure to cast your votes for Governor Josh Shapiro, Austin Davis, Bob Harvie, Mark Pinsley for PA State Senate, and Rebecca Prendergast for State House.
U.S. inflation accelerated last month as gas, clothes, and air fares got more expensive, evidence that rising prices remain an economic challenge just a few weeks before the midterm elections.
