'Whiplash': How Trump’s war skyrocketed the cost of living

Inflation skyrocketed in the month of March by nearly a full percentage point, to 3.3 percent annually, against a goal of two percent.

Professor of economics Justin Wolfers, a frequent cable news guest, calls the March spike “eye-popping.”

“Inflation surged in March due to the war in Iran,” Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, writes, noting that it is “squeezing middle income and lower income households.”

“We’re kind of living through a whiplash economy,” New Century Advisors chief economist Claudia Sahm notes.

The New York Times reports the cost of living jump is the highest in nearly four years, since the post-COVID inflation surge in June of 2022.

Energy costs spiked — the largest single-month gain in over two decades — a result of President Donald Trump’s war in Iran.

Gas prices jumped 21.2 percent — the largest single-month increase since at least 1967. Home heating oil and diesel were up over 30 percent.

Food also jumped, with coffee up nearly 19 percent year over year, and food at restaurants up more than four percent.

Airfares were up almost 15 percent.

Wages were “almost entirely eaten up by inflation,” Long notes, and real hourly wages for the month of March dropped by 0.6 percent.

“High prices causes real wages to fall, reversing the gains made since last summer in 2025,” notes former Special Assistant to President Biden on the National Economic Council Mike Konczal.

“Wars mean declining living standards for everyone,” Betsey Stevenson, a former Obama economic advisor, summed up.
Former Biden Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a possible 2028 Democratic presidential hopeful, said that inflation in March had “tripled” from February, and accused the Trump administration of “actively making prices higher.”

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