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By Tegan Lecheler | Stephanie lives in Kentucky with her husband and three—soon to be four—kids. While grocery shopping has always been part of her weekly responsibilities, lately it’s become an exercise in carefully considered compromises, with no room for error. What used to feed her family for the week now covers just a few days because of sharp cost increases in things like eggs and produce. (She’s not alone—the latest inflation figures show prices rose in July at their fastest pace in five months.)
Coupled with her husband’s precarious employment—he works in manufacturing and has seen colleagues laid off due to rising prices of steel and aluminum—along with Stephanie’s fear that recent legislative changes may cost her family their health insurance, it’s no wonder she’s among the average Americans fed up and desperate for change.
Any media you consume today will be dominated by think pieces and reporting on tariffs, the labor market and economic growth or decline. Lawmakers and pundits alike will let you know how our country’s economic policies are affecting the nation broadly—but they often neglect to report how these policies are affecting real people’s ability to keep a roof over their head or put food on the table for their families each night.
For Stephanie and millions of other people across the country, these legislative decisions are not just an abstract connection to GDP—they’re a very real daily crisis of affordability, which is why this conversation must shift away from sterile metaphors toward the lived experience of the families bearing the brunt of these realities.
This gap between macroeconomic policy and everyday survival is precisely why direct cash assistance programs for pregnant people and new parents—such as monthly maternal and infant cash supplements now piloted in multiple states—are crucial. These programs help families manage rising costs and financial stress, directly addressing affordability in a moment when every penny counts. (Click here to read more) |
