High interest rates. The Fed's held tight too long, mortgages are frozen, small biz credit is choking, and the lag effects are still bleeding into 2026. Everything else is downstream of this.
High interest rates are the choke point. They make homes, loans, and business investment too expensive, slowing the whole economy.
You can fix rates or regulations, but you cannot outrun demographics. The mass retirement of boomers means fewer workers producing goods and a shrinking labor pool.
Regulation and red tape are strangling US growth by 2026. Every new rule piles on costs that kill investment and hiring dead.
