WASHINGTON (AP) — After cooling slowly in 2024 and 2025, inflation is rising again, squeezing most Americans’ budgets and making it harder to afford gas, groceries, and other necessities. Inflation reached 3.8% in April from a year earlier, the highest in three years.

So, how bad is it really? Larry Kudlow, a financial news commentator on Fox Business, posed that question Wednesday to Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, which advises the president on the economy. Hassett had good news: inflation is actually “on a deep downward dive,” particularly if you take blue states out of the equation.