Rising costs and tight budgets strain Americans ahead of midterm elections

Stacy Eichel, an empty nester in Florida, spent years balancing two jobs. One was in healthcare; the other was her own venture: a small business making custom-branded merchandise for corporate clients, such as coffee mugs and T-shirts that companies hand out at conferences and holiday parties. For Eichel, the business was more than a paycheque. It was a side hustle for a woman who couldn’t sit still, who was always hungry for the next opportunity. It was the kind of business that thrived when companies had a little extra to spend on small branded trinkets to make an otherwise mundane corporate conference something memorable. In September 2025, Eichel lost her job in marketing for a healthcare company after a merger.