US defies forecasts of economic slowdown, but its growth isn’t making ordinary people better off

By Alan Shipman, Senior Lecturer in Economics, The Open University

US economic growth is picking up again after a slowdown towards the end of 2025. According to price data released on May 28, US GDP grew by 1.6% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026. This is despite energy prices rising and consumer confidence falling since the US president, Donald Trump, went to war with Iran in February.

Confronted by higher prices for gasoline and a range of other everyday products, US households are spending more in total, rather than cutting…

Read complete article

~	Can AI really spot the next football superstar – or is it changing the game in troubling ways?

~	Hong Kong: New powers for Chief Executive in ‘national security’ cases undermine fair trial rights

~	Jordan: New Application to Challenge Abusive Conviction

~	View from The Hill: Tony Abbott to tour the country, trying to energise Liberals

~	World’s first AI-designed vaccine explained

~	Can AI help coastal cities prepare for rising seas and extreme events?

~	How positive tipping points may be the key to protecting tropical rainforests

~	Pizza lovers and savoury snackers: what secondary school pupils choose to eat

~	Wes Streeting’s health bill brings back ‘democratic control’ of the NHS in England – but what does it mean?

~	Megacolon: when constipation becomes something more serious