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Cash or Credit? How Consumers Pay Today

A survey of consumer payment preferences found that credit cards are now used for 35% of all payments, a 17 percentage-point increase since 2016.

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Inflation: The increase in the general price level of goods and services over time, often a concern in capitalist economies, affecting purchasing power and cost of living.
Where Inflation Has Hit the Hardest, 2000-2025

Affordability for key essentials remains a sticky issue in the United States.

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Federal Tax Filing Season Has Started

The IRS began accepting and processing 2025 tax year returns on Monday, January 26, 2026.

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Geopolitics and the U.S. Financial Markets

International conflicts and other global events dominated the news in early 2026, most notably the U.S. action in Venezuela and pressure to obtain control of Greenland, as well as anti-government protests in Iran and a snap election in Japan.

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Paper Tax Refund Checks Being Phased Out by the IRS

As part of a broader U.S. Department of the Treasury initiative to transition to fully electronic federal payments, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is phasing out paper tax refund checks for individual taxpayers for the 2026 federal tax filing season.(1)

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