The events of this week may well tell us just how many balls President Donald Trump can actually keep in the air at one time. 

The U.S. military continues to make progress on its mission to put Iran out of the nuclear threat business in what may be the signature decision of his presidency. Meanwhile, despite a series of domestic terror attacks over the past two weeks and what seems to be an endless winter of severe storms, Democrats continue to refuse to fund the Department of Homeland Security or allow an up-or-down vote on the SAVE America Act. 

For Trump and Republicans, however, the biggest challenge remains the economic speed bumps that continue to plague the administration’s efforts to fix the failed Biden economy. 

Even before the mission in Iran began, the country’s economic picture had become more difficult to assess. What had been an improving economy now is more uncertain, and recent economic reports do not yet reflect the impact of the Middle East conflict. 

But here is what we know so far in three key areas: 

The administration has made meaningful progress in closing the gap between prices and wages, but more work is needed for people to feel they are getting ahead. 

The latest Bureau of Labor Statistics reports show the margin of prices over wages (using January 2021, President Joe Biden’s inaugural month, as the base month) increasing slightly, going from 2.6 percentage points in January to 2.7 points in February. 

However, the monthly wage/price data has shown some structural improvement starting last November, when prices went from outpacing wages by 4.4 percentage points down to 2.8........

© Roll Call