Section
Money & Economy
Evergreen explainers on prices, wages, housing, and the machinery of the U.S. economy — how the money side of American life actually works.
Why Grocery Prices Don't Come Back Down: The One-Way Ratchet, Explained
Inflation cooling doesn't mean prices fall — it means they climb slower. Here's the machinery that makes grocery prices a one-way ratchet, from sticky wages to the 11.8-cent farm share.
By Jordan Pike · August 22, 2026
The US Housing Shortage: How America Got Millions of Homes Behind
America builds fewer homes than it forms households, and has for years. A data story about the lost decade of construction, why estimates of the gap range from 1.5 to 5.5 million homes, and the mechanics that keep supply stuck.
By Jordan Pike · August 22, 2026
How the Fed Actually Moves Your Interest Rates: The Mechanism, Start to Finish
The Fed doesn't set your mortgage rate, your credit-card APR, or even "the" interest rate. Here's the actual chain — from an FOMC vote to two administered rates to the prices banks charge you — walked end to end.
By Jordan Pike · August 22, 2026