A yearly report from the Kinder Institute at Rice University indicates that the citizens of Houston, Texas are more anxious than ever about the economy. While in the past mostly low income respondents indicated anxiety about their financial situations, this year such concerns have moved to include middle class citizens as well. Most of the worries center around inflation and the high cost of food, clothing, gasoline and medical care. In addition layoffs at companies are at an all time high. Not since the nineteen eighties when there was an oil bust in Houston have the comments indicated so much worry about the future and the worriers appear to be coming from a wide range of individuals from differing socio-economic backgrounds. 

I recall the economic slowdown of the early nineteen eighties quite well. I had finally earned a bachelor’s degree in education and was excited about landing my first full time teaching assignment. I graduated Summa Cum Laude and had been inducted into the prestigious international honor society for education, Kappa Delta Pi. My professors recommended me to many principals who interviewed me as a courtesy. Unfortunately so many people were leaving Houston in the hopes of finding work elsewhere that there were actually too many teachers. On graduation day only one person in my graduating class had secured a job and hers came from her father who was the superintendent of a local school district. 

Such is the horrific situation of many college graduates who will be donning their caps and gowns this month only to realize that there are no jobs for them. Some are enrolling in masters programs in the hope of a brighter economic outlook ahead. Sadly for some their financial situation will be less than it might have been if they were able to find work right now. 

I have heard of young people with STEM degrees in majors like engineering and computer science who have sent resumes to over eighty companies in the hope of landing an interview and a job. Only one year ago their futures looked so bright. They had excellent grades and boasted internships that would normally have sent recruiters vying for them. Now they are in a panic or have decided to settle for work unrelated to their majors that will pay them far less that might have otherwise been the case. 

In my own experience back in the eighties I found myself looking for any teaching position that I might find and stumbled upon a job to teach math to sixth, seventh and eighth graders in a private school. While I felt fortunate to find anything my salary was less than half of what I would have made in a public school. In addition the timing of my inability to find a position int public education resulted in less of a pension down the road as well as locking me out of qualifying for spousal Social Security until Congress passed a bill in Biden’s last year as president. The financial hit that comes from such unlucky timing can follow an individual through an entire career. Such is what many college graduates of 2026 are facing. 

Sadly the economic problems include people who have been working for decades as well. Companies are sending pink slips to folks in spite of glowing compliments for their work. According to the Kinder report lots of Houstonians are wondering how they are going to make it even if they have managed to keep their jobs. Gasoline, childcare, food, utilities and so many expenses are keeping them awake at night. 

Why does this matter? Because our nation is paying for a war that has resulted in oil companies boasting double the profits over what they had last year. Small businesses affected by the original tariffs saw their bottom lines shrink and now they wonder how long it will take to get relief from the increase in tariffs for the materials they had to purchase to keep things going. In other words the economic situation is a mess at the same time that our president and members of his party seem to think that our nation needs a four hundred million dollar ballroom that most Americans will never see on the inside. While the people are budgeting and cutting back. our federal government is spending money like someone drunk on their own self worth.

In 2024, the United States had the strongest economy in the world in spite of the difficulties of the pandemic. Only a year and a half later all of that progress has been frittered away while programs that actually help citizens continue to be slashed. People worry that there will be a recession and that only the very richest among us seem to be riding the wave while everyone else feels as though we are drowning. 

It is time for Congress and our president to seriously stop the bleeding. We have to assess what is needed and what is frivolous. It’s important that we keep our best trained and educated citizens in the workforce. It would not take much at this point to tip the economy into a free fall and for some that has already come. As James Carville once said, “It’s the economy, stupid!” It’s time for our leaders to all focus on our very real cost of living concerns.