![\"Why](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/uxzwh4g7s6l488em.jpg\")
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ALAMEDA, Calif. – For Californians, the sting of high gas prices may be a warning sign of broader economic trouble ahead.<\/a><\/p>\n “There\u2019s nothing I can do. I have to pay it. It is what it is,” said Pleasant Hill resident Marco Burciaga while filling up Monday morning.<\/p>\n “It\u2019s disappointing that it\u2019s so expensive because it stops a lot of people from going places and experiencing memories,” added commuter Jo Gruszka.<\/p>\n Global tensions driving oil costs <\/p>\n What we know:<\/p>\n Experts say the recent surge in gas prices is tied to tightening global oil supplies.<\/p>\n “The war in Iran has tightened the world oil market because about 20% of all the world\u2019s oil was coming out of the Persian Gulf,” said Dr. Severin Borenstein, director of the UC Berkeley Energy Institute at Haas.<\/p>\n Crude oil is a cornerstone of the U.S. economy, and rising costs to secure and transport it are rippling across industries worldwide.<\/p>\n Ripple effects across industries <\/p>\n Big picture view:<\/p>\n Higher oil prices are expected to drive up costs far beyond the gas pump, affecting everything from travel to food.<\/p>\n “Crude oil and the petroleum products that are being affected by the war go into the manufacturing of pretty much everything,” Borenstein said. “We\u2019ll start to see increases in the prices of manufactured goods and also in the delivery of those goods.”<\/p>\n Shipping companies are already adjusting prices.<\/p>\n The U.S. Postal Service has implemented a temporary 8% rate adjustment. FedEx has added a 26.5% freight fuel surcharge, subject to weekly changes. UPS has applied fuel surcharges ranging from 20% to 27% on deliveries since January. Amazon plans to introduce a 3.5% fuel and logistics fee for third-party sellers starting April 17.<\/p>\n Inflation concerns grow <\/p>\n What they’re saying:<\/p>\n Economists warn that rising fuel costs could contribute to broader inflation.<\/p>\n “All of these are going to start to raise prices. That starts to show up as inflation,” Borenstein said. “And once it shows up as inflation, the Fed gets very worried about that because you can get into an inflationary spiral.”<\/p>\n Such a cycle can intensify as workers demand higher wages to keep up with costs, prompting businesses to raise prices further.<\/p>\n What consumers can do <\/p>\n What you can do:<\/p>\n In the short term, experts recommend holding off on purchasing airline tickets if possible and shopping around for gas, as prices can vary significantly even within the same neighborhood.<\/p>\n California<\/a>Iran War<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALAMEDA, Calif. – For Californians, the sting of high gas prices may be a warning sign of broader…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255013,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1184,7,9,8,93309,100,1181],"class_list":{"0":"post-255012","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-california-headlines","11":"tag-california-news","12":"tag-iran-war","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}