The savings rate just hit 2.6%. Disposable income dropped for the second straight month. And somewhere under all the tariff headlines, a quiet shift in American family life is telling us something the Wall Street Journal got almost entirely wrong.

This week, Dr. A and Jack work through three data points that don't look related on the surface — falling savings, rising childcare costs, and fathers quietly cutting their work hours — and show why they're actually the same story.

The consumer is still spending, but they're running out of room to do it. When they stop, that's the beginning of something.

Plus: Dr. A's take on higher education's real problem. It's not AI. It's that faculty stopped explaining what they actually do.

01:00 — The personal savings rate: what it is, why it matters right now, and why Abdullah has been watching it

03:30 — Credit card debt, delinquency rates, and how much longer the consumer can hold this up

08:47 — The Wall Street Journal's childcare piece — and why Abdullah thinks they gave men too much credit

11:00 — The real driver: childcare costs are reshaping labor force participation, not culture

18:15 — Stock market reality check: what's holding the positive numbers up, and why Abdullah is personally preparing for Q3/Q4 weakness

24:00 — What students should do differently right now (and why office hours are underrated).

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