Good morning, I'm Taylor Wilson, and this is five things you need to know Thursday the 29th of June, 2023.

Today, we look at whether the US has gotten too expensive to live in,

plus economists' assessed by dynamics and whether the policies have worked for Americans,

and the US and Iran have informal talks over a new agreement.

As we head into the 4th of July holiday, the reporting team at USA Today wanted to give our audience

a kind of state-of-the-nation report card.

We looked at issues around the country, gun violence, racism, democracy, and we asked, how are we doing?

Our first story comes from reporter Terry Collins on the cost of living.

Has America gotten too expensive?

Thanks for joining us on 5th, thanks, Terry.

Thanks, Dan.

So let's start here.

What is America's economic state right now, and how do Americans feel about it?

You can put it in two words, frustrating, uncertain.

I think as we're going through, right now, this current cycle, many are feeling physical pain,

as prices of food, shelter, health care, and transportation are climbing higher than our paychecks.

For example, if you're 2% of Americans participating in a USA Today's self-help poll,

said the US is too expensive to live in, 7 and 10 Americans said stifling inflation in the economy

are the nation's top problems currently, according to a Pew Center survey.

And it's across the board through age, race, gender, it's a very big problem.

Yeah, I'm happy you brought up inflation, looking at that specifically.

Do economists feel like things are in a healthy place on inflation?

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