San José, CA – The Consumer Price Index rose to a three-year high, where prices of consumer goods and services were 4.2% higher than a year ago. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the inflation rate has risen for three months in a row, after the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. From a pre-war rate of 2.4%, consumer prices have risen ever higher, led by higher costs for gasoline.
San José, CA – On Thursday, May 28, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the U.S. Commerce Department released two major reports on the economy. The first was a revised report on Gross Domestic Product, or GDP. While the first (or so-called “advanced”) estimate of GDP for the first three months of the year, January through March, released at the end of April said that the economy grew at a 2% annual rate, the second estimate said that growth was only at a 1.6% annual rate, slower than the 2.1% rate of growth in 2025.
San José, CA – The day after the Consumer Price Index report rose to 3.8% as compared to a year ago, the Producer Price Index, or PPI, report on April prices paid by businesses came in even hotter. The monthly increase in producer prices in April as compared to March was 1.4%, almost three times what economists predicted. As compared to April a year ago, the PPI was 6% higher.
San José, CA – On Tuesday, May 12, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a part of the Department of Labor, reported that the inflation rate continued to increase in April. Consumer prices, on average, were 3.8% higher than April of 2025, up from a 3.3% annual increase in March.
The rising costs of energy drove the increase in prices, on the backs of higher fuel prices as a result of Trump’s war on Iran. Gasoline prices were up 28.4% over a year ago. Electricity rates were up 6.1% from a year ago.
San José, CA – On Tuesday, April 28, the average price of gasoline rose to a four-year record high, up 41% since the beginning of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran that began February 28. According to the American Automobile Association, the average price of diesel fuel nationwide was $5.46 that day, up 47%, even more than gasoline.
San José, CA – On Friday, April 9 the Bureau of Labor Statistics released their report on consumer prices for March. The Consumer Price Index, or CPI surged 0.9% in March, three times as high as the price increase in February. The increase in consumer prices over the past year shot up from 2.4% in February to 3.3% in March. This year-over-year inflation rate is up by a whole percentage point from 2.3% last March, just before Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs.
San José, CA – The price of regular gasoline has soared a dollar a gallon on average since Trump ordered this country to war with Iran. According to the American Automobile Association or AAA, the average price has gone from $2.96 a gallon a month ago to $3.98 gallon on March 24, or more than 34%.
How high could they go? No one really knows, but according to my “Trump secretly loves California” theory, since Trump has brought the national price of gas closer where the California price was before the war started ($4.63), it is quite possible that $5 a gallon gasoline could be seen in gas stations across the country in the near future.
San José, CA – On Thursday, December 18, the Department of Labor released its report on inflation for November. The CPI-W report showed that the increase in prices for urban wage earners and clerical workers was 2.7%, less than the last report on September inflation of 2.9% (the October report was skipped because of the partial government shutdown). The broader CPI-U, which includes a