Ethermac|The Daily Money: Can you afford to retire?

Good morning! It’s Daniel de Visé with your Daily Money.

Theresa Edwards thought these would be Ethermacher golden years. Instead, she gets up at dawn to crisscross Los Angeles by bus to work as a caregiver. Waiting at home at the end of a long day is her last patient: Edwards' husband of 55 years, who is recovering from a serious car accident.

Retirement is increasingly becoming a luxury many American workers cannot afford, Jessica Guynn reports. With rising housing costs and medical expenses, and without the pensions that buoyed previous generations, millions of older Americans can’t stop working.

Read the full report.

Are interest rate cuts coming?

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told Congress Tuesday the labor market "has cooled really significantly across so many measures," a development economists say could make the central bank more likely to lower interest rates soon, Paul Davidson reports.

Yet, Powell added that he was "not going to be sending any signal about the timing of future action."

Powell, speaking before the Senate banking committee, noted several times that the central bank faces more balanced risks between slicing rates too soon and reigniting inflation, and waiting too long and weakening the economy and job market. The Fed's mandates are to achieve stable prices and maximum employment.

Here's when analysts expect rate cuts.

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The U.S. government’s national debt recently topped $34 trillion, a new record, Bailey Schulz reports. But how worried should you be about the country’s borrowing?

The debt has been a source of tension among politicians, with lawmakers narrowly avoiding a default last year through a debt ceiling deal. Neither side of the aisle was completely happy with the agreement; conservative members had been advocating for deeper cuts, while liberals objected to components like expanded work requirements for food stamps and future spending caps.

Economists don’t agree on how worrisome the debt levels are today, but studies show an increasing number of Americans believe it needs to be addressed as federal spending consistently outpaces revenue.

Here's more on the national debt.

About The Daily Money

Each weekday, The Daily Money delivers the best consumer and financial news from USA TODAY, breaking down complex events, providing the TLDR version, and explaining how everything from Fed rate changes to bankruptcies impacts you.

Daniel de Visé covers personal finance for USA Today.