Scott Horsley

And that's backed up by some numbers we just got from the Commerce Department.

These are not as timely as the Michigan survey.

They're from September, but we're just getting them now because they were held up by the government shutdown.

They show that inflation in September was still pretty high.

Prices were up 2.8% from a year ago.

On the plus side, inflation doesn't seem to be getting a lot worse, but unfortunately, it's not getting much better either.

Is that what's making people so anxious about the economy?

High prices are certainly part of the story.

The Commerce Department says personal spending increased in September, but just barely enough to keep pace with those rising prices.

So people feel like they're spending more, but they're not getting any more to show for it.

You know, they're just kind of treading water, which is frustrating.

Spending on big-ticket durable goods was actually down in September, and Joanne Hsu says that suggests people are feeling anxious and keeping a tight grip on their money.

Now, wages are still climbing on average, but not as fast as they had been.

And there's concern that the job market is losing steam.

Unemployments climb from 4% at the beginning of this year to 4.4% in September.

That's still low by historical standards.

But people feel like, gosh, if I'm struggling to pay the bills now, what happens if the job market really turns south and a lot of people get laid off?

How are Fed officials approaching this?

Yeah, they're really in a tough spot, you know, because inflation is still well above their target.

And ordinarily, the central bank would try to curb inflation by keeping interest rates high.