Tariffs and stubborn inflation are converging at the worst possible moment for the United States economy, just as the crucial holiday period should be delivering a year-end lift. Instead of a clean finish to the year, the data and the anecdotes now point in the same direction: a December slowdown that is pinching households, employers, and policymakers at once. The pressure is visible from factory floors to shopping malls, and it is reshaping how I read the outlook for early 2026. What is emerging is not a classic recession story but a more complicated squeeze, where higher prices and trade barriers are dulling ... (full story)