Life's getting tougher for ordinary American households. You walk into a grocery store, same cart, different price—somehow the bill keeps climbing. Medical expenses? Don't even get me started. And buying a house? That dream feels like it's slipping further away every month.

Here's something that might make it worse: fresh research from Yale University's Budget Lab suggests new tariff policies could slap an extra $1,700 onto what the average US family spends annually. That's not pocket change. We're talking real money hitting real people—the kind that forces you to rethink whether you can afford that weekend trip or maybe hold off on replacing your aging car.

Inflation's already squeezing wallets. Now add policy shifts into the mix, and you've got families caught in a financial vise. The purchasing power everyone once took for granted? It's eroding faster than most realize.