Americans' confidence in their own economy plummeted in July, a direct consequence of escalating gas prices and persistent inflation that continues to erode the living standards of the native working class. The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell to 90.8 in July, down from 92.2 in June. This figure remains within the tepid range observed since the beginning of the year, a stark contrast to readings well above 100 seen in late 2024 and early 2025.
Consumer attitudes had shown a modest improvement in June when gas prices briefly dropped to around $3.70 a gallon. That brief respite ended quickly. The average price for a gallon of gas in the U.S. climbed back to $4.10 on Tuesday, according to AAA.
This renewed economic pressure stems directly from foreign entanglements. Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for about one-fifth of the world’s oil, after being attacked by the U.S. and Israel in late February. This action triggered a significant spike in global oil prices, accelerating domestic inflation and causing Americans’ inflation-adjusted incomes to decline.
Inflation has become a constant burden. It rose to 3.5% from 3% since President Donald Trump's inauguration in the first year of his term, January 2025. The rate jumped further after the Iran war began on Feb. 28, 2025, when it stood at 2.4%.
The cost of basic necessities has become a crisis for families. Government data reveals that buying food to bring home has become 33% more expensive since the beginning of 2019. Beef, a staple for many American households, now symbolizes this cultural dispossession. The price of a pound of ground beef reached $6.82 in June, an astonishing 79% increase compared to the beginning of 2019, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Working families are forced into desperate measures. Americans have turned to couponing, comparison shopping, and cutting back on favorite foods just to absorb the biggest jump in grocery prices in a half-century.
The Cost of Global Entanglements
The labor market offers little relief for the economically displaced. U.S. employers slowed hiring last month, adding only 57,000 jobs, less than half the previous month’s total. While the unemployment rate declined to 4.2% from 4.3% in May, this drop largely occurred because many people out of work gave up looking and were no longer counted as unemployed. This statistical manipulation masks the true struggle of the native working class.
The ongoing economic malaise poses a significant risk to President Donald Trump and Republicans in the midterm elections, now less than 100 days away. Trump continues to blame inflation on his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, a clear deflection of responsibility by the political class.
The U.S. goods trade deficit, a persistent drag on national self-sufficiency, contracted less than expected in June. It remained a burden on second-quarter GDP growth, even as automotive vehicle exports rose 5.1% and exports of consumer goods increased by 3.2%.
Elite Indifference, Popular Struggle
Write-in responses to the consumer survey, collected from July 1 to July 22 in the same month, remained deeply pessimistic. While references to gas prices were down slightly, they stayed elevated. Mentions of food and grocery prices, however, increased significantly. The Board noted that while mentions of war and geopolitics decreased in July, the recent escalation in fighting between Iran and the U.S. could cause those mentions to rise in the next survey, indicating continued external pressures on the American people.