Many have argued that energy is the central pillar of our economy, because it requires energy for just about anything to get done in our modern world. It takes energy to make stuff, it takes energy to move stuff, and it even takes energy to entertain ourselves. The war with Iran has dramatically increased energy costs for businesses of all types, and those costs are starting to get passed along to consumers. As a result, our standard of living is going down. If the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened soon, the change in our standard of living will be the largest that any of us have ever experienced.

We live at a time when economic dissatisfaction is already at very alarming levels.

In fact, a recent YouGov/Economist survey discovered that the number of Americans that believe that economic conditions are getting worse is nearly four times higher than the number of Americans that believe that economic conditions are improving…

A new YouGov/Economist poll found that 59% say the economy is getting worse, while just 15% say it's improving. More than two-thirds of Americans say the country feels "out of control."

These depressing numbers are the result of many years of economic deterioration.

At first, a lot of people out there wanted to deny that the U.S. economy was in decline, but now the truth is becoming apparent to everyone.

Unfortunately, the crisis in the Middle East is threatening to make our economic problems a whole lot worse.

We are being told that the shocking inflation numbers that we just got are a result of "the war with Iran"…

Wednesday's Producer Price Index report showed the war with Iran is raising costs for US businesses at a rate not seen in nearly four years, increasing the likelihood that companies will pass on those higher costs to consumers.

PPI, a measure of wholesale inflation, increased in April to 6% on an annual basis from 4% in March, well exceeding economists' expectations. On a monthly basis, the index increased 1.4%, according to data released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's twice the pace that economists expected. It's also the second-largest monthly gain dating back to the index's inception in 2010.