The Spectator US

How should our government respond to rising gas prices due to the conflict in Iran?

Data: Financial Modeling Prep; Chart: Axios Visuals In the first week of the American and Israeli attack on Iran, the economic ripples were looking pretty minimal. But as Week 2 begins, the risks to the global economy are growing much more serious. The big picture: You can't decapitate the leadership of a country of 90 million people, with expansive military and intelligence capabilities, in the heart of some of the world's most economically important supply chains, without a huge cost. The hours and days and weeks ahead are all about quantifying that cost. Zoom in: Oil skyrocketed 25% overnight, to just under $120 a barrel, fueling worries that higher energy costs will stoke inflation and curb spending by U.S. consumers. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index plunged more than 5%. That's the highest oil price since about four years ago, when energy prices surged due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.Patrick De Haan — a widely cited gas price expert and an analyst for GasBuddy — estimates there's an 80% chance the national average gas price will hit $4 per gallon in the next month. The latest: As of 5am ET, a barrel of the global crude oil benchmark was going for about $107 on futures markets, up 15% from Friday and 47% from 10 days ago, before the Iran attack. Brent crude prices approached $120 overnight before receding on reports of coordinated global action to release oil reserves. The oil price rise is poised to translate into a rapid increase in the cost of retail gasoline, which was already up about 51 cents per gallon before the weekend run-up in oil prices. The risk of a broader economic slump is rising with the disruption to oil supplies. S&P 500 futures are down 1.3% overnight, setting Wall Street up for its third consecutive day of losses. Japan's Nikkei index was down 5.2% and South Korea's KOSPI down 6%, reflecting those economies' more direct dependence on Middle Eastern oil now at risk of a protracted blockade. Of note: The odds of a U.S. recession this year spiked t