Oil prices are not helping. Having already surged on account of Iran-related geopolitical concerns, they are altering American consumers’ behavior, weakening their confidence, aggravating the country’s payments imbalances, and further reducing policymakers’ flexibility.
油价也在添乱。由于有关伊朗的地缘政治忧虑，油价已出现了飙升，正在改变美国消费者的行为，削弱他们的信心，恶化美国收支失衡问题，也进一步削弱了决策者的灵活度。