Financial FAQs
“The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in March, after rising 0.3 percent in February, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 3.3 percent before seasonal adjustment. BLS.gov
We knew it was coming. Not just when. The Iran war is in its second month and has already produced the largest supply shock to the global oil market in history, the IEA said last month.
On Tuesday, the head of the group, Fatih Birol, told French newspaper Le Figaro as reported by several news agencies that the current crisis is more severe than the oil shocks of 1973 and 1979, and the 2022 Ukraine-war shock, combined.
There’s no end in sight as the world’s largest economy is making the supply shortages worse. It’s an incredible reversal of our standing in the world.
The high spike in the CPI inflation graph above is a disheartening picture of what happens when mad kings attempt to control economies and countries that have a choke hold on supply chains needed by the world economies.
This is just the latest mismanagement by the Trump administration—and Republican Party also has allowed, let’s not forget—of the American economy. President Trump wanting to pay for his tax cuts with higher tariffs had already snarled supply chains and caused a second post-COVID inflation round.
The Biden administration had wrestled annual CPI inflation below 3 percent in 2024 from the earlier COVID-19 pandemic spike, where it stood until now.
And Trump apparently thought attacking a country that bordered a waterway through which 20 percent of petroleum supplies and products flowed would not do further damage to the world’s economies.
So what was he thinking? The problem is he doesn’t bother to think things through at all. This is the second spike that has raised the cost of living since the tariff induced inflation. So why would polls show a majority of voters believe Republicans are better at economic growth?
Is it because Trump runs the federal government from Mar-a-Lago, or one of his golf courses (That’s a joke.)?
The all-items consumer index rose the most—3.3 percent for the 12 months ending March, after rising 2.4 percent for the 12 months ending February. It rose 2.6 percent less food and energy over the year. The energy index increased 12.5 percent for the 12 months ending March, as a result of the Iran war.
And American consumers are already feeling it. The University of Michigan survey of consumer sentiment fell to a record low of 47.6 in April from 53.3 in the prior month.
“Consumer sentiment sank about 11% this month, extending a decline that began with the start of the Iran conflict, and is currently about 9% below a year ago. Demographic groups across age, income, and political party all posted setbacks in sentiment, as did every component of the index, reflecting the widespread nature of this month’s fall,” said Survey Director Joanne Hsu
It doesn’t mean consumers will shop more once they receive their Trump tax refunds. But inflation is a growth killer, and countries such as Russia or even Turkey that are living through one-man rule have had nothing but double-digit inflation for decades, because their leaders thought they knew better than anyone else how to run their country.
Harlan Green © 2026
Follow Harlan Green on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarlanGreen
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