2026 Strait of Hormuz crisis, Economic impact of the 2026 Iran war

Big question in most minds today might be phrased like this: "How is the European war going to affect me as an individual, as a worker, and as a factor in our society?" The answer to that must naturally vary with the work you do, the way you earn your living, in what section of the country you live, and what your station in life is. And the hazards of forecasting at this early stage are obvious. But, going by the experience of the past, it is the safest bet imaginable that the average man and woman is going to be affected by the European explosion, and in certain definite ways. First, war is almost certain to have an influence on the cost of living in this country—and an unfavorable influence, looking at it from the point of view of the householder who has to pay the bills. All over the country people rushed into stores to lay in heavy supplies of sugar, flour, and other staples. As a result, many localities reported themselves practically sold out of these commodities. Stores were forced to ration dwindling stocks. This was panic buying, which naturally created a high artificial price situation. Prices immediately soared to completely unreasonable levels from which they have begun to drop. The truth is that we have, and have long had, heavy surplus of most commodities. Sugar stock on hand recently touched an all-time high. This year's world wheat crop was the greatest on record, and the U.S. crop, while it did not set a record for us, was very large. We have