September 2026: The world today, as seen by one Polish guy
- ID
- 30273
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 30 Sep 2026, 3:12 PM
- Fetched
- 30 Sep 2026, 8:55 PM
- Provider
- Hacker News
- Category
- dev-community
- Original URL
- https://tomwojcik.com/posts/2026-09-21/september-2026-the-world-today/
- Source URL
- https://hnrss.org/best
Summary
- Score
- 4.0
- Created
- 30 Sep 2026, 8:56 PM
- Tags
- Audience
- developerssaas_founders
What happened
Tom Wojcik's essay traces one cause — the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has kept closed since March using drones, missiles, mines and small boats — into fuel, food and winter heating costs, noting tanker traffic through it fell by more than 90% and that the IEA calls it the largest oil supply disruption the market has ever seen. Brent went from near $97 in early September to around $105 mid-month and $108 on 24 September, after Washington rejected Iran's 22 September written road map for a 60-day regional ceasefire and phased reopening of the strait. He also flags the Breakwave Tanker Shipping ETF rising more than 600% in the war's first two months and up over 2,300% for the year by early September, with supertanker day rates going from under $100,000 pre-war to a record of about $860,000 on 10 September.
Why it matters
This is macro context, not a change to any tool you use — nothing in it tells a developer or founder to alter their stack. The only usable numbers are cost inputs: if your budget includes physical shipping, hardware freight or energy-linked pass-through, ~$860,000/day supertanker rates and ~$108 Brent are what reprice first. The piece contains no Malaysia- or Southeast Asia-specific data, so any local impact is something you would have to verify yourself rather than take from this essay.
Discussion angle
Ask the room whether a $108 Brent / record tanker-rate environment is a planning input or noise for them: which single cost line — cloud egress, hardware, shipping, ad spend — would move first if freight stays this expensive, and what specific tripwire would make them actually act on it?