U.S. economy grows in the third quarter

The better-than-expected report came from the Commerce Department on Thursday. It showed that consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity, grew at an annual pace of 1.4 percent between July and September. Exports shot up at an annual pace of 14.4 percent. Government spending rose by 2.4 percent, largely due to increased defense spending. That’s the first such increase since early last year. Inflation still sits at around a 40-year high.

What’s being done about that inflation? While it doesn’t address inflation directly, President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that his administration was planning on eliminating junk fees—fines such as overdraft fees and bad check fees that banks often use. Prior to the pandemic, banks collectively charged their customers roughly $15 billion in overdraft and bounced check fees, according to an estimate by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., criticized the bureau for choosing to “sidestep the congressionally mandated rulemaking process to change the rules of the road.”

Dig deeper: Listen to Mary Reichard’s conversation with Glen Duerr on The World and Everything in It podcast about Britain’s new prime minister and the economic woes that thrust him into office.