Slower wages squeeze households as employers hedge uncertainty

The brief

Slowing wage growth and persistent inflation are eroding purchasing power, leaving households to manage higher prices, debt and declining real earnings across income levels.

Bed Bath & Beyond is moving beyond retail into flooring, home services and consumer loans, betting that customer relationships can become a broader homeownership strategy.

Jay Zagorsky explains why paper checks persist despite declining use, especially among older consumers and small businesses, while the Federal Reserve still processes them.

Temporary workers are filling logistics, transportation, warehouse and data-center roles as employers respond to layoffs, labor shortages, immigration-policy changes and uncertainty about AI.

A Pringles production project uses a digital twin and AI to predict problems in real time, aiming to reduce waste while keeping human employees in the loop.

The episode closes on Kevin Warsh’s reported experiment with AI bots trained on Milton Friedman and James Tobin, testing how machines might analyze economic ideas.