By John Ubaldi, “Ubaldi Reports”

The midterms are now officially behind us expect for two congressional races, but the economic issues the country faces still remain and only have the potential to get worse.

During the midterms the Democrats focused primarily on abortion and if the Republicans win our very Republic is threatened, the problem is that the issues Americans are concerned about were never addressed; inflation and the U.S. economy.

Right after the midterms a poll was taken and 75% of the American people stated that they believe the country in on the wrong track.

Now with the midterms in the rear view mirror, America is facing economic headwinds that have the potential to upend the fragile U.S. economy.

The first one is a potential national rail strike that could begin on December 9th when the cooling off period ends.

Only two months ago, President Biden took at victory lap when he brokered an agreement with the major U.S. railroads and unions who represent around 115,000 workers averted a potential strike which would have stalled almost 30% of U.S. cargo shipments, added additional inflationary pressure that would have cost the U.S. economy $2 billion per day.

The unfortunate aspect President Biden and the union leadership never coordinated with the rank and file union workers, as four of the twelve unions rejected the president’s brokered agreement.

Since September, the unions and railroad companies have been negotiating with one of the main sticking points being quality of life issues centering around work rules and quality of life issues that include staffing levels and paid sick leave which none of the prior tentative agreements did not include.

Back in September, President Joe Biden called those deals “a win for tens of thousands of rail workers and for their dignity and the dignity of their work.” He had directly intervened in the final round of talks, but his praise of the deals wasn’t enough to win approval from rank-and-file members of the conductors’ union.

If the railroad unions decide to go on strike on December 9th, the trucking industry would not even begin to be able to pick up the slack. The nation’s long haul truckers are facing their own issues with a shortage of drivers, various federal and state regulations that have had a direct impact on the industry.

Then add in a shortage of diesel fuel.

Even though throughout the Biden administration never mentioned what the strategy was for tackling inflation, beyond that if the Republicans win they would make it worse.

In December the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has stated he will continue to raise interest rates at the next Fed meeting in December. The problem is that the Federal Reserve and the Biden administration are moving in two different directions when it comes to the economy.

Powell is trying to thread the needle and hoping his interest rate increases bring down inflation, but unfortunately, Biden and the Democrats in Congress are doing the opposite by massive increase in federal spending and added federal regulations on U.S. businesses.

Now that we are in the middle of the Christmas holiday shopping season, economic reports have shown that most of the spending is being carried on consumers credit cards that will have to be paid when bills are due come the first of the year.

Unfortunately, with interest rates rising, that means interest on consumer credit cards will also rise as well. With inflation at a historical elevated level, consumers pay checks are not going as far as they did one year ago and definitely not where they were when Biden assumed the presidency.

The other issue and one the president keeps mentioning how gas prices are coming down and how his policies have made this happen. The problem he doesn’t explain why this is the case and that is because consumers have changed their driving habits in response to high prices.

What is going to happen in the spring and early summer when it’s the peak driving season, gas prices always go up because of increased demand?  When that happens prices will rise, but this time it could be worse, because at least five refineries have come offline and will be shut down permanently, but will not be brought back due to federal regulation and the Biden administrations war on fossil fuel.

Finally, how will consumers react to paying much higher utility cost to heat their homes, especially now with a shortage of natural gas, this is only a small sampling of what is in store for the U.S. economy.