It’s the Energy Prices, Stupid! Inside the August 2026 CPI Surge
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Washington DC, Consumer prices rose by 3.4% year-over-year in August 2026, with gas prices closing in on $4 a gallon. On paper, the top-line inflation numbers look concerning. However, a deeper dive into the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals a completely different story: inflation across most of the economy is actually cooling fast—it is almost entirely an energy problem.
