{"id":575531,"date":"2026-05-09T23:35:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T23:35:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/575531\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T23:35:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T23:35:37","slug":"life-is-so-expensive-for-americans-since-the-iran-war-that-even-ceos-are-worried","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/575531\/","title":{"rendered":"Life is so expensive for Americans since the Iran war that even CEOs are worried"},"content":{"rendered":"

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As a growing number of Americans find themselves in dire straits<\/a> over covering life\u2019s essentials, some of the country\u2019s most powerful CEOs are sounding the alarm.<\/p>\n

The top executives of Kraft Heinz Co., Whirlpool Corp., McDonald\u2019<\/a>s and Applebee\u2019s<\/a> expressed serious concerns in their companies\u2019 recent earnings calls that consumers are struggling to make ends meet, with some tying the situation to the Iran war.<\/p>\n

Whirlpool CEO Marc Bitzer said consumer demand for the company\u2019s products drop 15 percent in the first quarter. For the first time in 70 years, the company suspended dividends – payments issued to shareholders as rewards for their stock ownership, The Wall Street Journal reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe war in Iran<\/a> amplified consumer concerns about the cost of living,\u201d Bitzer told investors on a call<\/a> Thursday. Kraft Heinz CEO Steve Callihane shared a similar sentiment with the Journal <\/a>Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re literally running out of money at the end of the month,\u201d Callihane said. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing negative cash flows in the lower-income brackets where they\u2019re dipping into savings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Three-quartersThree-quarters of Americans have little to no extra money at the end of the month for savings or non-essentials (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Millions in the U.S. are grappling with a soaring cost of living including high gas prices<\/a>, a slow job market and inflation<\/a>. Some 61 percent of consumers<\/a> said they disapprove of President Donald Trump\u2019s handling of the economy, the largest share since 2022, according to a YouGov poll published this week.<\/p>\n

Since the war started two months ago, the average U.S. gas price has shot up from around $3 a gallon to $4.55 Friday. Inflation jumped from 2.4 percent in February to 3.3 percent in March.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s top economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, sparked outrage last week when he boasted that credit card spending<\/a> is \u201cthrough the roof\u201d right now. <\/p>\n

After stating the jobs market is going to be \u201cvery, very strong,\u201d Hassett told Fox News<\/a>: \u201cIn fact, I had the head of one of the big five banks in my office yesterday going through the credit card data. And just as Secretary [Scott] Bessent said, credit card spending is through the roof. They\u2019re spending more on gasoline<\/a>, but they\u2019re spending more on everything else, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Major companies have tried to pivot in response to consumers tightening their belts. <\/p>\n

McDonald\u2019s debuted a new value menu in April that features a range of breakfast, lunch and dinner items under $3. The fast-food giant\u2019s CEO also expressed concerns about consumers\u2019 financial resources and the company\u2019s growth in the coming months. <\/p>\n

\"McDonald\u2019sMcDonald\u2019s CEO Chris Kempczinski told investors Thursday the company has noticed that consumer confidence is awash in \u2018heightened anxiety\u2019 (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly, [the] consumer sentiment is heightened anxiety,\u201d CEO Christopher Kempczinski said in an investor call <\/a>Thursday. <\/p>\n

Dine Brands Global Inc., which owns sit-down restaurants such as Applebee\u2019s and IHOP, is facing declining business from its thriftier customers. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur value-conscious guest, our price-sensitive guest is very sensitive to increases in gas prices and the basics and the cost of living ,\u201d CEO John Peyton said in an earnings call Wednesday. \u201c… [They] seem to be staying home a bit more and or looking for lower cost alternatives.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company continues to \u201clean into\u201d the Two for $25 promotion it launched in 2025, Peyton said, which offers cost-focused customers an appetizer and two entrees from a special menu. <\/p>\n

And popular fast-casual brand Panera took an unprecedented step in February to adjust to cash-strapped customers\u2019 needs by debuting value meals<\/a> for the first time in the company\u2019s 39-year history. <\/p>\n

Whether the end of consumers\u2019 difficulties is near is hard to say. The Trump administration has insisted on multiple occasions that prices will go down quickly<\/a> once the war ends. However, the administration has not said when that will happen, leaving consumers to navigate a historically tumultuous economic season. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575532,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,1294,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-575531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}