The Bill

Figures as of23 Sep 2026

What the Iran war and the tariffs cost an American household, measured only in the government's own numbers.

Open the live page Source on GitHub

Eleven animated blocks. Every source shown.

The opening block of the live page: a map of the Strait of Hormuz with the shipping lane nearly empty, and a gold figure 3 reading ships a day through Hormuz, was 83. Counts for Bab el-Mandeb, Suez, the Cape of Good Hope, Malacca and Panama sit in the corner.
Block 00, the globe. Ships a day through six straits; Hormuz falls from 83 to 3.
  • +$89 a month, a household
  • $1,636 since 20 Jan 2025
  • $96.41 crude, 22 Sep
  • $114.58 crude peak, 7 Apr
  • 3 ships a day through Hormuz, was 83
  • $6.53 diesel, a record
  • 42,474 new jobs a month, was 320,938
  • $43.6bn the war so far
  • 13,142 gold bars out of the New York Fed

The bill so far

As of 23 Sep 2026

What it adds to a household's month

Plus 89 dollars a month for a household.

a month for a household.

Since 20 Jan 2025: $1,636

Pick your state on the live page and the total re-flips for it.

Crude oil, a barrel

at the peak on 7 Apr, from $57 in January. $96.41 on 22 Sep.

Strait of Hormuz

ships a day, down from 83 before the war.

7-day mean to 20 Sep, IMF PortWatch.

Diesel, a gallon

on 21 Sep, a record for the EIA series.

New jobs a month

since January 2025, against 320,938 a month in 2021-25.

What the war has cost

so far, the Pentagon's own estimate as of 3 Sep.

Reported by Roll Call.

Gold leaving New York

bars

of foreign gold, 164 tonnes, taken out of the New York Fed over eleven months: about 39 bars a day.

In text: plus $89 a month for a household, $1,636 since 20 January 2025. Crude oil went from $57 in January to $114.58 at the peak on 7 April, and was $96.41 on 22 September. The Strait of Hormuz carried 83 ships a day before the war and 3 now, the 7-day mean to 20 September from IMF PortWatch. Diesel was $6.53 a gallon on 21 September, a record for the EIA series; the previous peak was $5.81 in June 2022. 42,474 new jobs a month since January 2025, against 320,938 in 2021-25. The war has cost $43.6 billion, the Pentagon's estimate as of 3 September, reported by Roll Call. 164 tonnes of foreign gold, about 13,142 bars, left the New York Fed over eleven months.

Eleven blocks, one scroll

The live page is a single scroll. Each block plays once as it comes into view, then holds still, and each has a panel that shows the work: the series, the dates, the method.

  1. Block 00: the Strait of Hormuz on a map, the lane almost empty, with 3 ships a day against 83 before.

    Block 00: The globe

    Ships a day through six straits, counted from satellite. Scroll, and Hormuz falls from 83 to 3 while the other five hold.

  2. Block 01: two stamped dates on a dark red ground, 28 Feb 2026, he ordered the strike, and 24 Feb 2026, he re-imposed the tariffs a court had struck down.

    Block 01: Two dates

    24 Feb, the tariffs re-imposed. 28 Feb, the strike. Every red mark on the page traces back to one of them.

  3. Block 02: a gold seismograph line of daily crude closes marked with the ceasefire and the renewed strikes, over a large $96 a barrel.

    Block 02: Oil doubled

    Every daily WTI close on a moving seismograph: $57 in January, $114.58 at the peak on 7 April.

  4. Block 03: the strait drawn on a coastline with a red closed marker, the claim of 30 a night in dashed outlines beside 3 counted ships a day in gold.

    Block 03: The strait

    One ship on screen for each ship a day: 83 before, 3 now, drawn beside the claim of "30 a night".

  5. Block 04: a split-flap board of fourteen prices, January 2025 against now, with diesel at $6.53 a gallon in large flap tiles and a state picker.

    Block 04: Your prices

    A split-flap board of fourteen prices. Pick your state and the fuel and power rows flip to it; a link like ?state=CA opens straight on one.

    Try it with ?state=CA
  6. Block 05: two panels of small figures, one per 10,000 jobs, a full panel at the previous pace beside a thin row since January 2025.

    Block 05: Nobody is hiring

    One figure per 10,000 jobs, and why jobless claims are low while hiring is frozen.

  7. Block 06: on a dark red ground, rows of stars for the service members killed, aircraft outlines for the 42 lost or damaged, a bar for $43.6bn spent, and a row of interceptors with the dispute printed beneath.

    Block 06: What the war cost

    18 US service members killed, per the official count. 42 aircraft lost or damaged. $43.6bn spent. The disputed interceptor estimate is printed beside the dispute.

  8. Block 07: the lost aircraft drawn as icons, equal to a gold grid of everyday purchases, with the whole war at the same scale in red.

    Block 07: What it buys

    The lost aircraft priced in PlayStations, gallons of diesel, years of tuition and hot dogs.

  9. Block 08: a wall of gold ingots, one per tonne held at the New York Fed, thinning month by month, beside the Federal Reserve's rebuttal.

    Block 08: The world backs away

    13,142 bars of gold taken out of the New York Fed in eleven months, who moved theirs and why, and the Fed's own rebuttal at full size.

  10. Block 09: the share card, a navy card with a red and white striped top edge listing eight headline figures under the words The Bill.

    Block 09: Your bill

    The share card, rendered from the real block, so the card and the page can never disagree.

  11. Block 10: a cream page headed Check our work, listing what cuts against the page and how fresh each figure is.

    Block 10: Check our work

    What cuts against the page, and how fresh each figure is.

How it stays honest

  1. Zero fabrication

    Every figure comes from a government series or a cited, tiered source.

  2. No moving figure is typed

    A verdict like "a record" is computed from the full series on every refresh, so the words cannot outlive the numbers.

  3. What cuts against the page, at full size

    The page prints the numbers that argue the other way, as large as its own.

    • Stocks are up
    • Mortgages cost less than at the handover
    • Few people are being laid off
    • Core CPI runs below the headline, though the Fed is still raising rates
    • Customs receipts were positive again in August

  4. The claim beside the count

    Where an official says one thing and the measurement says another, both are drawn, side by side.

    The claim

    "30 a night"

    The satellites, 7-day mean

    3 a day

  5. Gaps stay gaps

    The October 2025 Consumer Price Index was never collected. The page leaves the month empty and says so.

    Consumer Price Index, Jul 2025 to Jan 2026. October was never collected.

How it works

Public numbers in, one static page out, and a gate in the middle that refuses to ship anything stale or broken.

  1. 1  Sources

    Public sources

    • FRED
    • EIA
    • Treasury
    • IMF PortWatch
    • BLS
    • Curated, tiered figures

  2. 2  Snapshot

    One snapshot

    Every series pulled into a single file, data-snapshot.json.

  3. 3  Gate

    Validation gate

    Stops a stale or broken deploy before it reaches anyone.

  4. 4  Cut

    The V5 data cut

    The snapshot cut into the few small files the page reads.

  5. 5  Site

    A static site

    Served from Cloudflare Pages. Nothing is fetched from a CDN at read time.

Refresh is one command

Rebuild, gate, test, build and deploy, run on demand after something moves the numbers.

.\backend\scripts\refresh.ps1

Every refresh is logged

Each run appends the headline figures to a public file, so the history of every number is on the record: docs/refresh-history.csv.

In one hand

The same page on a phone: the globe, the price board and the bill, laid out for a narrow screen.

The globe block on a phone: the strait on a map with the figure 3 ships a day.
The globe
The price board on a phone: diesel at $6.53 in flap tiles above fourteen prices, January 2025 against now.
Your prices
The share card on a phone: eight headline figures on a navy card with a red and white striped edge.
Your bill