Scott Horsley

Well, the data paints a rather mixed picture.

I mean, GDP, as late as the third quarter, was growing pretty rapidly.

And the administration certainly expects that we're going to see another year of strong growth as those tax cuts begin to kick in in 2026.

But we've seen a real pretty sharp slowdown in the job market.

We only added 50,000 jobs in December.

And for all of last year, we added...

about 70% fewer jobs than we did in 2024.

And inflation is still relatively high.

We just got new inflation data this morning that showed prices in December were up 2.7% from a year ago.

That's the same annual increase we saw in November.

So I guess if you want to say the glass is half full, inflation is not getting any worse, but it's also not getting any better.

And as you mentioned, Donald Trump campaigned promising to make things cheaper, and a lot of stuff – some things have gotten cheaper.

Gasoline prices, for example, are down, and that's important for a lot of people.

But grocery prices continue to climb.

Electricity prices are up.

And natural gas prices, which a lot of people are relying on for winter heating, those prices are way up right now.

So, you know, people aren't necessarily feeling like life is getting a whole lot more affordable.

Yeah, it's interesting.

I was talking with Mark Wolf, who heads the National Energy Assistance Directors Association.

That's a lot of state offices that help low-income people with their energy bills.