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5 min read“More than half the inflation we are seeing today comes from higher gas and diesel prices alone,” said Alan Detmeister, an economist at UBS Investment Bank, on the September 2026 inflation report. Consumer prices had risen 3.7 percent year-over-year, and while energy was the obvious culprit, the episode spent its first half examining whether that “dumpster fire” was spreading to the rest of the economy, and its second half traveling deep into the slums of Mumbai to see a very different kind of economic story.
The dumpster fire and the dry grass around it
Economist Omer Sharif of Inflation Insights described the situation with a metaphor: if energy prices are a dumpster fire, you want to know how dry and tinder-like the surrounding area is. The answer, in September 2026, was mixed. Services inflation was not dampening down at all. Recreation services were strong, hotel rates had moved up sharply, and airfares were still rising as airlines tried to recover jet fuel costs. On the other hand, some prices—beef, pork, milk—had come down. Eric Winograd, chief economist at Alliance Bernstein, calculated that the economy was split about 50-50 between goods and services seeing inflation below 2 percent and those above it. His conclusion was that second-round effects from oil into other prices had been “a lot more limited than I think most people would have expected.” Markets were s
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What you'll learn
- 1 (01:00) **Inflation Check: Energy Is the Fire, But Is It Spreading?** - September CPI shows 3.7% annual inflation; the host frames the question as whether energy price spikes are bleeding into the rest of the economy.
- 2 (03:55) **The New Supply Chain: VLCC Tankers at $80 Million a Pop** - The pandemic-era container-ship crisis has been replaced by a crude-oil tanker crunch, pushing freight rates from $3-6 per barrel to $38 per barrel.
- 3 (06:39) **Introducing the "Age of Work" Series: Marketplace India** - The episode pivots to a multi-part series on the Indian economy, starting with the story of Marketplace Handwork of India, a social enterprise that trains and employs women artisans.
- 4 (10:34) **Inside the Santa Cruz East Slum: A Visit to Marketplace India HQ** - Hosts Kai and Mila visit the Mumbai office and cooperative, experiencing the dense, commercial nature of the slum and the vertically integrated production model.
- 5 (13:14) **Meeting the Artisans: Sarah's Story** - In a cramped tailoring room, Kai interviews Sarah Kamri, a 37-year-old artisan who has worked with Marketplace India for nine years.
- 6 (18:29) **Upstairs in the Cooperative: The Power of the Sisterhood** - The group climbs a steep, ladder-like staircase to a room where a dozen women sit in a circle doing hand embroidery.
- 7 (22:53) **A Vision for India's Future: What If Every Woman Had a Bank Account?** - Kai asks the women what would change if all Indian women had financial independence.
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Show Notes
Inflation worsened in September, to 3.7% annually, up from 3.4% in August. Energy prices are mostly to blame, but the other slices of the economy are starting to show price stress. It’s no help that the cost to ship crude oil is up exponentially. In this episode, the dumpster fire that is war-inflated energy prices. Plus: Host Kai Ryssdal and ADP Chief Economist Nela Richardson visits a garment exporting business (with a familiar name) that provides job training for women in Mumbai.
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