Nancy Marshall-Genzer

It introduces direct costs that I think scares a lot of companies from being vocal and scares a lot of shareholders from being vocal in this space right now.

President Trump pointed to lower prices for things like gas to make this claim yesterday.

The cost of used cars is also down.

President Trump is expected to continue talking about lower prices and affordability in his State of the Union speech this Tuesday.

But inflation is still above the Federal Reserve's 2 percent target, and consumers feel the pinch, especially at the grocery store.

A left-leaning think tank, the Center for American Progress, has unveiled a plan for price caps.

It was written by former Biden administration economist Jared Bernstein.

The proposal would freeze the price of more than 20 different foods for at least two years, including staples like meat, milk, cheese, and butter.

The cap program would be voluntary.

The plan would offer breaks on credit card swipe fees as an incentive for stores to participate.

I'm Nancy Marshall-Genzer for Marketplace.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says 10 percent of U.S.

workers were in a union last year, and full-time unionized workers made $230 more a week than non-union employees.

Black workers continued to have the highest rate of union membership.

Union membership among public sector government workers was more than five times higher than the rate for employees in the private sector, according to the BLS.

and the agency says the public sector union membership rate increased by more than half a percentage point last year.

The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute says federal workers are turning to unions amid the Trump administration's layoffs.

It says an additional 40,000 federal employees joined a union last year.

President Trump fired the chair of the National Labor Relations Board in 2025, leaving the board without a quorum for most of the year.

It needs a quorum to consider violations of labor laws.