A blunt argument that the damage to the US economy is intentional rather than accidental, framed as bad news for ordinary Americans paying higher prices.

• The core claim: the scale of the current mess is too big to be explained by incompetence alone.
• The war with Iran pushed oil prices up, and higher gas prices lift the cost of nearly everything else.
• Energy costs and economic growth move almost one-for-one, so expensive energy drags the whole economy down.
• The takeaway is that the oil spike was easy to see coming, which makes the policy choices behind it look deliberate.

Outlook: As long as energy stays expensive, prices across the board keep climbing and growth keeps slowing.