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Just over a month into the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, energy markets appear to be coping, with benchmark crude oil prices bouncing between $100 and $115 a barrel. But that is not the number that matters. What matters is the cost of the useful things that come out of that barrel of crude, and that picture is dark and getting grimmer.

The sharp end of the spear for the global economy is the spike in the cost of jet fuel, which has more than doubled in the month since the war began to more than $195 a barrel as a global average. Crude oil is up a mere 50 percent since the war began.

Just over a month into the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, energy markets appear to be coping, with benchmark crude oil prices bouncing between $100 and $115 a barrel. But that is not the number that matters. What matters is the cost of the useful things that come out of that barrel of crude, and that picture is dark and getting grimmer.

The sharp end of the spear for the global economy is the spike in the cost of jet fuel, which has more than doubled in the month since the war began to more than $195 a barrel as a global average. Crude oil is up a mere 50 percent since the war began.

That spike in the cost of jet fuel is having immediate impacts on airlines and economies in Asia and Europe, above all. Airlines are canceling flights, grounding planes, adding fuel surcharges, and otherwise struggling to deal with an overnight........

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