The Affordability Crisis Shaping US Elections
Channel: Bloomberg Television
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Read a transcript preview of “The Affordability Crisis Shaping US Elections” from Bloomberg Television, uploaded on 2026-10-31.
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Language: English (original, creator captions)
[0:00] Wherever you go,
[0:01] the vast majority of voters in both parties
[0:03] say the economy is their top issue
[0:06] as they head to the polls.
[0:07] And for most Americans, that comes down to one word.
[0:11] -Affordability. -Affordability.
[0:12] -Affordability. -Affordability issues.
[0:14] -Affordability crisis.
[0:15] -Every single election headline you get
[0:17] is going to be about affordability.
[0:19] Westin: New polls out this month show almost half of Americans
[0:22] struggle to afford basic necessities
[0:25] like food and medical care.
[0:27] And most households, even wealthier ones,
[0:29] say they've cut back spending on extras
[0:32] like entertainment and eating out
[0:33] over the past year.
[0:35] -Inflation picked back up.
[0:37] Like, that's really been the pressure point,
[0:38] and people haven't been able to adjust
[0:40] by getting bigger paychecks.
[0:42] -Inflation is intolerably high.
[0:46] Westin: Economists, including Harvard's Jason Furman,
[0:49] point to two key factors
[0:50] pushing price growth above the Fed's target.
[0:53] -It looked as if we were headed back to 2%.
[0:57] It was almost within spitting distance.
[0:59] And then it took off again.
[1:01] Why did it take off again?
[1:03] I think, in part, that was tariffs,
[1:06] which probably have added half a point
[1:08] to a percentage point to the inflation rate,
[1:11] and then subsequently the Iran conflict.
[1:15] Westin: Wars in the Middle East and Ukraine
[1:16] have raised prices for fuel and fertilizer.
[1:19] Put that on top of trade conflicts
[1:22] that have made food and household goods
[1:24] more expensive to import,
[1:25] and you have American families now paying
[1:27] an average of $253 more every month
[1:31] than they did just a year a