Well, howdy there, Internet people, it's Bell again.

So today, we're going to talk about how tax refunds are unlikely to help Trump's economy.

A lot of economists, especially those hoping to spend the country's economic state for the benefit of the administration.

We're really hoping that tax refund season would provide a substantial boost to consumer spending

and therefore shroud the economy's health for another quarter.

They hoped the extra $370 or so that many Americans will see would be splurged.

However, Trump's war with Iran seems to have thrown a wrench into those plans.

According to Gas Buddy, early Friday morning, average gas prices have gone up 99 cents per gallon since last month,

and 24.8 cents since last week. That's going to eat into the expected splurge in spending.

When gas and diesel go up in a country that runs on trucks and vans for deliveries,

well, everything goes up.

That means the refund boost to big ticket items tends to evaporate.

That's on top of inflation coming in hot.

Paul Dietrich is the chief investment strategist at Wedbush Securities, and explained it pretty

clearly when he said, quote, when energy costs rise, consumers do not stop spending.

They just stop spending on what they want, and spend more on what they have to buy.

He's right. It's really that simple. Like most of Trump's policies, it hits those on the bottom first

and works its way up. Or as Dietrich put it in purely economic speak, quote, lower income households get

squeezed by fuel costs, while higher income households can also get hit if the stock markets

hit their asset values and stock market gains. The Iran War acts like a tax increase on the consumer, except nobody voted for it.

Now, if you're wondering what he means and how gas prices can hit the stock market, first,

you have increased overhead for the companies.

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