TL;DR
The national average hit $4.22 per gallon — up 36 percent in five weeks — the steepest one-month increase since the 2022 Russia-Ukraine spike.
MSM Perspective
AAA's weekly gas price report was covered by local news as a consumer story, not a war-consequence story.
X Perspective
X's consumer finance accounts are connecting pump prices to the Hormuz blockade in ways cable news will not.
The national average price for regular unleaded gasoline reached $4.22 per gallon on Friday, according to AAA — up from $3.10 five weeks ago, a 36 percent increase that matches the steepest one-month rise since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in March 2022. California's average reached $5.41. Seven states have averages above $4.50. [1]
The increase tracks almost perfectly with the Hormuz blockade timeline. Every penny at the pump represents approximately $1.4 billion in annual consumer spending. The 112-cent increase since mid-February represents roughly $157 billion in annualized consumer cost.
-- HENDRIK VAN DER BERG, Brussels