James Ellars Official

If you’ve felt a little sticker shock lately, you’re not imagining it. New numbers out this week show prices across the country rose 4.2% over the past year, the steepest jump in three years. Most of that pain is coming from one place: energy. The conflict with Iran has pushed gas prices and travel costs sharply higher, and we’re all feeling it — at the pump, at the airport, and in the quiet math we do before a summer road trip. Energy costs alone are up more than 23% over the year, and that ripples into almost everything we buy.

The good news, if we look closely, is that the rest of the economy is steadier than that headline number suggests. Setting aside food and energy, prices are rising at a much calmer pace. In plain terms, this is mostly an energy shock from events overseas, not a sign that everything is spinning out of control here at home. That distinction matters, because it means the squeeze many of us are feeling could ease if the situation abroad settles down.

There was good news of a different kind this week, too. On Friday night in Los Angeles, our men’s national soccer team opened the World Cup — the first one on American soil in more than thirty years — with a thrilling 4-1 win over Paraguay. It was the most goals our men’s team has ever scored in a single World Cup match, and for one evening, neighbors who agree on almost nothing else found themselves cheering for the same thing. There’s something to be said for that.

And in a small but welcome bit of everyday progress, regulators approved a new sunscreen ingredient that folks in Europe have used safely for years. It’s the kind of quiet improvement that makes ordinary life — a day at the beach, an afternoon in the yard — just a little better and safer for our families.