The American economy reads a little like a Dickens novel these days – and for Joe Biden, it’s in desperate need of a plot twist.

For more than a year, the narrative has been stuck between “best of times” data and “worst of times” sentiment. Unemployment has been incredibly low and consumer spending abnormally resilient. But consumers have proved dour, unwilling to give President Biden much credit because of the sting of recent high inflation and continuing sky-high housing costs.

The past two years have been very good for the U.S. economy. Unemployment has crept up a bit, but not by a lot, and the employed share of Americans in their prime working years is higher than, to make a random comparison, it was at any point during the Trump years. At the same time, inflation has come way down, defying the pessimistic predictions of many economists.

Economist Milton Friedman defined inflation as “too much money chasing after too few goods.” He could have just as easily described President Joe Biden’s economic agenda.  

For almost four years, Biden’s policies have flooded the marketplace with federal stimulus while squeezing the supply of goods and services through higher taxes and regulations. The result has been a cost-of-living crisis and an economy in decline.

New research on how Americans perceive Project 2025, an initiative developed by the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, has been published by a progressive group that opposes it.

Project 2025 essentially outlines an overhaul of the federal government. It was designed in the hopes of being implemented if Donald Trump wins reelection in November—though the former president has denied associations with it.

Americans are increasingly skeptical about the value and cost of college, with most saying they feel the U.S. higher education system is headed in the “wrong direction,” according to a new poll.

Overall, only 36% of adults say they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education, according to the report released Monday by Gallup and the Lumina Foundation. That confidence level has declined steadily from 57% in 2015.

From Europe to Asia, and even at home, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s stock is plummeting.

New survey data made public Tuesday by the Pew Research Center shows that Mr. Zelenskyy, the comedian-turned-politician who has forged a global profile as the public face of Ukraine’s defiance in the face of Russia’s 2022 invasion, is rapidly losing the trust of populations around the world, including in neighboring European nations such as Poland.

Joe Biden and Donald Trump will have just 90 minutes tonight to set the tone for the next phase of the presidential campaign — and, perhaps, shake up a stagnant race.

The blockbuster showdown, which takes place months earlier than normal and outside of the traditional bounds of the Commission on Presidential Debates, will mark the first time the two men have been in the same room together since 2020.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did not qualify for the first presidential debate set for next week, CNN said Thursday.

Why it matters: Qualifying for the network's debate would have given the independent candidate a national platform to propel his long-shot presidential bid.

The last independent candidate to make the presidential debate stage was Ross Perot in 1992.

CNN confirmed Thursday that its presidential debate next week will go forward with just Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump and President Joe Biden.

The qualification window for the debate closed at midnight Thursday, and independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Jill Stein of the Green Party failed to qualify. Stein was never close to qualifying and Kennedy fell short of qualifying by the deadline, CNN said. 

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday lashed out after CNN announced its June 27 debate would be a head-to-head between President Biden and former President Trump, leaving the independent White House hopeful off the stage.

“Presidents Biden and Trump do not want me on the debate stage and CNN illegally agreed to their demand,” Kennedy alleged in a statement from his campaign. “My exclusion by Presidents Biden and Trump from the debate is undemocratic, un-American, and cowardly.”