Understanding Gas Hikes & Family Budgets

[vl]

Let's create a Benchmark: $3/gallon gasoline, 15 gallon car gas tank, 15 miles per gallon and 75 miles traveled daily.

$45 fills the tank.
5 gallons used per day.
2 fill-ups per week (couch potato on Sunday).

Weekly fuel allocation in the budget- $90.

If you're a teacher in Wisconsin likely to endure a 12% pay cut from that bat-wielding moron governor and his clan of puppet Congressionalites, you will see your wages reduced to about $36,000 annually for the critical role of educating the youth in your state.

$36,000/year (as opposed to Wall Street BONUSES averaging a mere $123,000 this year for the unimportant work of pumping the markets so retirees have more Viagra cash).

$36,000/year equals about $485 TAKE HOME dollars per week.
That's $395 after you've covered your gasoline expense.
Your car insurance is about $25/week so... $370.
Feeding your family including support goods- $40/day now $20.
Pay EITHER the cable or cell bill-- now you're tapped at $0.

Gasoline goes UP just 50 cents per gallon.
$52.50 fills the tank.
That's $103 per week.

$13 extra dollars spent on gas may not sound like much but... where would YOU cut something else to accommodate it? Would you... drive less to work (assuming anyone else lived around you and could car pool)? Would you slash food and supply items like laundry detergent, soap or vegetables? Drop cable or cell phone service?

Michigan's gasoline at the pump increased 40 CENTS in 24 hours.
No tankers delivered higher priced supply.
Libyan CRUDE taps slowed, but the flow is still there.
It takes two MONTHS to transition a barrel of crude to pump gas.
Nearly a 20% INCREASE, OVERNIGHT, on speculation.

Feel free to argue the facts.

[neohguy]

I don't think a lot of people realize how much the cost of gas/oil affects the economy. A job opening being advertized at $10.00/hr in my town will have a line of over 100 applicants standing in the snow outside. I'm sure this is repeated in other towns.
We also have a problem with businesses moving to the outer suburbs. The workers can't afford to live out there so they are forced to purchase a car if they wish to keep their jobs. I remember when I purchased my first jalopy. I was really excited. My dad said the first thing I would realize is that I had a lot less money every week. He was right. Gas was only $.36/gallon back then.

[neohguy]

Residency requirements usually only apply to safety forces. At least around here..

[lifewasgood]

Anyone that lived through the last big oil war (70's)(80's) should remember what that did to our economy and the changes that had to be made in our lifestyles. Basically a lot of business, went out of business. Today to get the same effect, gas at the pump needs to go up to 7 bucks to feel the same pain. With this fragile economy, imagine 7 bucks a gallon. Imagine the business that will put the close sign out and board it up.

However, the stock market will put in new highs because the same reason gas will go to 7 is the same reason the market will keep rising. Inflation!

[tyfighter3]

We have the largest Reserves in the World. If we utilized them we wouldn't be having this conversation right now.

[comokate]

Feb 24, 2011 8:10:50 GMT -5 @sroo4 said:

Ok, I'll bite. Don't most teachers have residency requirements? Looking at a map of Milwaukee (the largest district in the state) the farthest possible distance a person could travel is about 20 miles (and that's being generous)....


I think the 75 miles/day is a little bit inflated.

It's ( unfortunately) common for people to drive 30-50 miles to work one way in Minnesota. The Twin Cities has *many* teachers driving in from the state of Wisconsin for work ( it becomes very rural at the border between the two states). Wisconsin and Minnesota are heavy with rural/farming areas where very few employment opportunities exist, but for those that do, they tend to be *very*low paying jobs. The cost of housing was very low though in those areas however, so people make the commute. Now that gasoline prices are rising again, these people are going to have some tough decisions to make.
**********************
Gasoline prices rose 23 cents a gallon here ( Twin Cities) since I left for work this morning ( on my lunch break...should have stopped in for the "fill up" before going in..DOH! )

************************
added note: That is a subject matter that used to "t" me off before the housing bubble burst. Banks and real estate people here would state " housing here is undervalued when looking at other large Metropolitan areas like Seattle, Atlanta and New York". To which I always said, "yes, but we are not Seattle, Atlanta and New York".
We never had a large base here of highly paid workers in the state. The levels that home prices rose to here was never consistent with the actual amount people here could afford to pay. And then came predatory lending...

[nicomachus]

Wages have remained stagnant but the cost of things like fuel has risen. Even if the minimum wage were inflation adjusted to what it was in 1968 (which today would be $12-14/hr depending on who you read), workers are spending more time in traffic, longer work commutes, spending more for necessities.

Eventually, the oil supplies will start to run dry. When they do, economic centralism (centralization of means of production with wide distribution) will become untenable. We do well to begin returning to localized economies sooner than later to prepare for the shift.

[reasonfreedom]

The funny thing VL is that Detroit has a refinery( I can't remember what company), but if I recall correctly it is not that big. I was living in Howell when the gas prices were jacked up during the great recession. I still think that the gas stations were jacking the prices up at the wrong times. If they had just had the tanker fill it up the day before on the prior prices, they would still charge more when the hike came. I always found it best to get gas in Southfield/dearborn(Telegraph), was the cheapest . I am just lucky I am in SC now where it is only 3.03 per gallon at the moment. As far as your calculations, 15 mpg? Those people need to stop driving those hogs, that his horrible gas mileage. I was driving a ford focus( yeah I know good gas mileage) from Howell to Livonia everyday during the $4 days and I only had to fill up 1 time a week and that is with the whole 96/275/696 car mesh(Ugh I hated that mess). At least the teachers get pensions, I was with 2 private sector businesses in MI that stopped their pensions because it was unsustainable one of them being a fortune 500. I would be curious as to what they pay for benefits also and what they get as benefits. I thought he was just making them pay more into their benefits/pensions which is hard to say that it is a wage cut and thought the wage collective bargaining was just being limited to CPI. I know the CPI numbers are not the most accurate, but Obama can just have Solis manipulate the numbers since she is pro-union.

[vl]

My wife is a non-union teacher. She gets LESS than union workers and contributes about what any other worker does to her benefits. She also has three other jobs. Together, they don't add up to what I used to make in my career position. I worked hard and have a GREAT work ethic, but I concede completely to the physical and mental investment REAL teachers put into their work. I have no idea what sroo4 was supposed to be getting at with my figures.
Cars-- who can afford to buy a new one? You live in SC now. Around here, there are old seniors and kids driving new cars (poorly) and the rest of us nurse what we've got, so, mileage is really not highly efficient. No employer hires you around here unless you have to commute. No one I know- who works for someone else-- does so close to where they live.
I also agree with Kate, but not sroo4 who challenges where teachers in Milwaukee live. Go to Milwaukee and check it out for yourself. I used to work there and it's urban core wasn't thrilling. It also snows more in our northern states so beyond just the gridlock is the blizzard.

[reasonfreedom]

Feb 24, 2011 16:42:29 GMT -5 @vl said:

My wife is a non-union teacher. She gets LESS than union workers and contributes about what any other worker does to her benefits. She also has three other jobs. Together, they don't add up to what I used to make in my career position. I worked hard and have a GREAT work ethic, but I concede completely to the physical and mental investment REAL teachers put into their work. I have no idea what sroo4 was supposed to be getting at with my figures.
Cars-- who can afford to buy a new one? You live in SC now. Around here, there are old seniors and kids driving new cars (poorly) and the rest of us nurse what we've got, so, mileage is really not highly efficient. No employer hires you around here unless you have to commute. No one I know- who works for someone else-- does so close to where they live.
I also agree with Kate, but not sroo4 who challenges where teachers in Milwaukee live. Go to Milwaukee and check it out for yourself. I used to work there and it's urban core wasn't thrilling. It also snows more in our northern states so beyond just the gridlock is the blizzard.

Lol, the poor driving of the young and old was the same experience I had up there. When I compare MI drivers to SC drivers, I say that MI drivers are wreckless and SC drivers just don't know how to drive(generalizations of course). As affording to buy a new car, I agree with you on that. I think it is actually no where near worth the investment as the money goes. I purchased used cars, like my last purchase was a 2000 cavalier with 60k miles on it for 3.5k. It was in great conditions and I have not had one issue with it in the 1 1/2 years I have had it. You can always find a good used car, you just have to do your research. By the way my cavalier gets about 25-30 mpg. I agree with the snow being a big factor, heck when it snows down here, everything shuts down . I agree that teachers should get compensated more based on individual progression and accomplishments. I can't say for sure how the whole union wage increases go, but I don't like the philosphy of everybody getting a wage increase by group standards(like years worked). Say all teachers in a union working for 2 years get the same wage increase, I think that is totally lacking any good from of reason. In that situation if I was a teacher, I wouldn't ever perform at my greatest because there is no incentive or real recognition. My brother has a 4-year from UofM Flint and has a really high IQ with people communication skills( I know not all that common). He worked for non-profit organizations at a minimal wage most of his life and his ambition to helping others amazes me. He went into teaching for the soul purpose of the well being of the children and to further their knowledge. To make a long explanation short, he taught in MI(Hartland) and NC(Charlotte) schools. He ended up stopping his pursuit of teaching(which shocked the heck out of me) because he said the way they have the schools structured for new teachers is like trying to kill and elephant with a beebee gun. The things he told me were just ridiculous, I couldn't picture how any teachers could effectively work in the atmosphere he described.

[reasonfreedom]

Feb 24, 2011 17:08:00 GMT -5 @sroo4 said:

I guess I don't really understand why you choose to highlight teachers in your OP? Aren't there a lot of people who are going to be affected by the rise in gas prices. Since when do the teachers have market cornered on pain and misery?

Or are they just the victims of the day?

Over all I would say teachers(the good ones) get the short end of the stick for our society. What they provide(knowledge) is the key to the awareness and advancement of any society. There are a ton of occupations that make ridiculous wages. Computer game developers/programmers(since when are games a necessity), bankers, a lot of management, salesman(like cars). I could go on and on but I hope you get my point.

[comokate]

Feb 24, 2011 17:08:00 GMT -5 @sroo4 said:

I guess I don't really understand why you choose to highlight teachers in your OP? Aren't there a lot of people who are going to be affected by the rise in gas prices. Since when do the teachers have market cornered on pain and misery?

Or are they just the victims of the day?

"Victims of the day" ? "Victim" is a pretty strong word choice, don't you think? I believe V_L simply used teachers as they are the most recent group seen in the media that soon face a loss of income as the price of necessities increases.
Housing in my area went through the roof...either you paid the going rate for home or you rented, and rents here are very high ( on par with the average mortgage payment without the tax/equity benefit). I live in the city, and age 51, I bought my home before prices spiked. At it's peak, my 900 sq foot home, 70 years old, on a city lot, was appraised at 275,000...a *ridiculous* amount of money. Younger people did not have the option of getting in at a lower price, although they now have underwater mortgages.

[dumdeedoe]

I personally think that the housing bubble burst was more because of oil than any other reason.. People rushed out to buy that mansion that they could barely afford and when high oil increase their monthly bills 200-400 a month they couldn't keep up..

[Steady As She Goes]

WOW ... a thread of complaints and not one solution ... WOW

The answers ...
Let's start with the food and "support goods" (what ever those are. Anyone ever hear of coupons? How about only buying SALE items? How about getting creative with potatoes, rice, and other staples? Did any of you ever hear of thrift stores? Garage sales? Craigslist? (it's more than missed connections and rants and raves). What about church rummage sales? There are tons of ways to SEVERELY REDUCE that $1200 per month food bill.

Get rid of the $99 per month cell phone plan and if you really need to be able to contact people 24/7, get a basic phone ONLY plan. Reduce your minutes.

Ditch the cable. If you really REALLY the cable, reduce it to the bare minimum. I say ditch it all together and use the time gathering coupons for your groceries. Get the family involved. Have them ask their friends for the coupon sections of the newspaper. Or maybe their friends that DO have Internet connection can print on-line coupons for you and your family.

$1300 per year for car insurance? Really? For a teacher? Must be a pretty new car. Sell it! How good can it be if it only gets 15 MPG? Sell it! You didn't mention car payments in your scenario, so I'll assume it's paid for. Sell it! You can find early 2000 cars for 2-3K that get almost twice the MPG. And raise your deductibles ALL of them!

Lets see ... just those BASIC solutions will...
Cut your gasoline consumption and cost in half.
Save a few hundred per year on your car insurance.
Reduce your food and "support goods" (I still don't know what that is) by 50, 60, 70% or more.

Need more ideas? Check for local food co-ops, or food banks. Join forces with another friend/family who is struggling. Move in together temporarily.

My family and I had to most of these things "back-in-the-day" ... IT CAN BE DONE ... it's not that difficult. You just have to get off your butt and take a proactive stance instead of pointing fingers at everybody and everything and whining about it.

USE your head!!!!!!!!!

[dumdeedoe]

Sorry me be edjamacated in duh public skools and when I thunk ma head hurts.......................

[vl]

Thanks again for your support, Kate and Reason.

You have to be living under a rock to offer up "solutions" like coupons, yada yada yada. The average American has been hunkered down and planning menus around clearance items for quite a while. BTW... support goods like SOAP, towels, garbage bags and all the other things people who have overhead and responsibilities use (unless you don't use any).
Been to a Thrift Store lately? Your neighbors have. Everyone who has overhead and responsibilities has. Didn't you catch ReasonFreedom and used cars?

PLEASE feel free to explain EXACTLY how you reduce a $1,200 food and household needs bill. That's about $40/day. Rachel Ray only did it sometimes and that was dining solo.

[comokate]

Feb 24, 2011 19:03:03 GMT -5 Steady As She Goes said:

WOW ... a thread of complaints and not one solution ... WOW

The answers ...
Let's start with the food and "support goods" (what ever those are. Anyone ever hear of coupons? How about only buying SALE items? How about getting creative with potatoes, rice, and other staples? Did any of you ever hear of thrift stores? Garage sales? Craigslist? (it's more than missed connections and rants and raves). What about church rummage sales? There are tons of ways to SEVERELY REDUCE that $1200 per month food bill.

Get rid of the $99 per month cell phone plan and if you really need to be able to contact people 24/7, get a basic phone ONLY plan. Reduce your minutes.

Ditch the cable. If you really REALLY the cable, reduce it to the bare minimum. I say ditch it all together and use the time gathering coupons for your groceries. Get the family involved. Have them ask their friends for the coupon sections of the newspaper. Or maybe their friends that DO have Internet connection can print on-line coupons for you and your family.

$1300 per year for car insurance? Really? For a teacher? Must be a pretty new car. Sell it! How good can it be if it only gets 15 MPG? Sell it! You didn't mention car payments in your scenario, so I'll assume it's paid for. Sell it! You can find early 2000 cars for 2-3K that get almost twice the MPG. And raise your deductibles ALL of them!

Lets see ... just those BASIC solutions will...
Cut your gasoline consumption and cost in half.
Save a few hundred per year on your car insurance.
Reduce your food and "support goods" (I still don't know what that is) by 50, 60, 70% or more.

Need more ideas? Check for local food co-ops, or food banks. Join forces with another friend/family who is struggling. Move in together temporarily.

My family and I had to most of these things "back-in-the-day" ... IT CAN BE DONE ... it's not that difficult. You just have to get off your butt and take a proactive stance instead of pointing fingers at everybody and everything and whining about it.

USE your head!!!!!!!!!

It's unfortunate you can't understand the difference between compassion for others, and a discussion of current events and " A thread of complaints" and "whining". Your loss.
Let me educate you-
I live very frugally. So does V_L. and we've discussed that in many previous threads that apparently you've never read. Don't make assumptions about the spending habits of others.

[Steady As She Goes]

I didn't make ANY ASSUMPTIONS about you or V_L. Don't turn this personal.

I responded to his original post with answers and solutions. If V_L didn't want someone to respond with answers, maybe he shouldn't have posed the question.

Please don't LECTURE me where NONE is warranted.

You know nothing of ME or my current or past situations to make a statement like that.

[dumdeedoe]

Compassion does alot to solve problems?
I would take training on how to survive in a competitive environment,and how to live within ones means over pity...

When I was in public school in Texas there was a course for 7th-8th graders called survival course. It had nothing to do with outdoor survival,
It taught how to balance your check book, and set up and follow a budget. do your taxes, and all the basic skills of modern existence. Do they still offer this course? Because there is a whole generation that needs to take it....

Norm Quote "Its a dog eat dog world and I'm wearing milk bone under wear."

[comokate]

Feb 24, 2011 19:31:59 GMT -5 Steady As She Goes said:

I didn't make ANY ASSUMPTIONS about you or V_L. Don't turn this personal.

I responded to his original post with answers and solutions. If V_L didn't want someone to respond with answers, maybe he shouldn't have posed the question.

Please don't LECTURE me where NONE is warranted.

You know nothing of ME or my current or past situations to make a statement like that.

You lectured everyone reading your post-

[comokate]

Feb 24, 2011 19:52:20 GMT -5 dumdeedoe said:

Compassion does alot to solve problems?
I would take training on how to survive in a competitive environment,and how to live within ones means over pity...

When I was in public school in Texas there was a course for 7th-8th graders called survival course. It had nothing to do with outdoor survival,
It taught how to balance your check book, and set up and follow a budget. do your taxes, and all the basic skills of modern existence. Do they still offer this course? Because there is a whole generation that needs to take it....

Norm Quote "Its a dog eat dog world and I'm wearing milk bone under wear."

Most of the world's major religions teach compassion for others, charity for the poor. Now I understand why.
Maybe in addition to teaching people how to balance their checkbooks ( since checks themselves are becoming obsolete ) courses in improving memory would be warranted as it seems so many have forgotten the reason our country, and others, find their economic situations so perilous is due to the poor/fraudulent banking/investment practices by the "too big to fail" banks and investment firms-
( but how convenient for them the masses are pointing their fingers at each other).

[blackliver]

Good point dumdeedo, but can't be taught in a semester at school. Parents need to instill those ideals all through chidhood.

[reasonfreedom]

Feb 24, 2011 19:03:03 GMT -5 Steady As She Goes said:

WOW ... a thread of complaints and not one solution ... WOW

The answers ...
Let's start with the food and "support goods" (what ever those are. Anyone ever hear of coupons? How about only buying SALE items? How about getting creative with potatoes, rice, and other staples? Did any of you ever hear of thrift stores? Garage sales? Craigslist? (it's more than missed connections and rants and raves). What about church rummage sales? There are tons of ways to SEVERELY REDUCE that $1200 per month food bill.

Get rid of the $99 per month cell phone plan and if you really need to be able to contact people 24/7, get a basic phone ONLY plan. Reduce your minutes.

Ditch the cable. If you really REALLY the cable, reduce it to the bare minimum. I say ditch it all together and use the time gathering coupons for your groceries. Get the family involved. Have them ask their friends for the coupon sections of the newspaper. Or maybe their friends that DO have Internet connection can print on-line coupons for you and your family.

$1300 per year for car insurance? Really? For a teacher? Must be a pretty new car. Sell it! How good can it be if it only gets 15 MPG? Sell it! You didn't mention car payments in your scenario, so I'll assume it's paid for. Sell it! You can find early 2000 cars for 2-3K that get almost twice the MPG. And raise your deductibles ALL of them!

Lets see ... just those BASIC solutions will...
Cut your gasoline consumption and cost in half.
Save a few hundred per year on your car insurance.
Reduce your food and "support goods" (I still don't know what that is) by 50, 60, 70% or more.

Need more ideas? Check for local food co-ops, or food banks. Join forces with another friend/family who is struggling. Move in together temporarily.

My family and I had to most of these things "back-in-the-day" ... IT CAN BE DONE ... it's not that difficult. You just have to get off your butt and take a proactive stance instead of pointing fingers at everybody and everything and whining about it.

USE your head!!!!!!!!!

From my post you can see I agree with the used car, the only fallacy in it for the normal person is a 2000 car will tend to have mechanical problems usually sooner than a new car that has a warranty on it. If you work on cars at all nowadays you would know that it is extremely expensive for repairs and parts. My best friend is a mechanice of 20 some years and I learned alot from him that is why a used car is easy for me. Unless you know what to look for in a car when purchasing it(mechanically then) you have a good chance of needing repair down the road and it is cheaper to fix my own car, but alot of average people are not capable or have that knowledge(especially newer cars).

I think the coupons is great idea for the normal person. For me I can only find a few since I buy mostly organic. I treat my body like a temple and 80% of the food you buy at conventional stores is damaging to your health. I would grow a garden but I live in a rental community, only so much you can grow in pots on the porch. Some of my friend back up in Michigan use the coupon method and save incredible money, I was shocked when my best friends GF showed me what she did. Then again their whole family gets sick a lot and has health issues from eating all of that junk food. When I say junk food I mean conventional.

A factor in Car insurance is where you live. 1200 for full coverage is not that horrible and if you have children I would think that you would have full coverage as to their health should be worth any insurance cost. I guess you could always relocate to a different state/city if the insurance cost alot, but then again I don't think relocating is so cost effective, I have relocated alteast 16 times and now I am age 31 so I think my opinion is pretty experienced base. Relocating in this job market is not that easy either, unless you want to have 3 minimum wage jobs and no parenting skills.

A lot of your solutions will save money, but I see it costing a lot in health. I know it is just my opinion, but I think health is a necessity for me. I am single so, it is easier to for me to be able to survive day to day. I could see how families with one or more children can easily struggle, if it is difficult for a single person to afford to live day to day.

"WOW ... a thread of complaints and not one solution ... WOW"
and
"USE your head!!!!!!!!!"

Here again is just my opinion, but when you use these statement I don't see constructive or positive criticism. I get the sense of hey I can't believe you people are so stupid or that since you have experience in being frugal to survive that we don't have solutions. If you could go back and read the title "Understanding Gas Hikes & Family Budgets" and the posters were doing exactly that making observations not whining. No where did I see in the title about wanting solutions, we are just throwing ideas/observations out to "understand" the subject.

[Steady As She Goes]

Really? Now you want to say that alll your posts were about the Title and not the OP? Really? Did you read ALL the questions in the OPs original post? There were an awful lot of them. I believe ai answered all of them.

But you guys go ahead and SEE and READ what you want.

Good Grief?!?!?!?!?!

[PirateReturns]

RE: the governor of Wisconsin.
Most state representatives that fled the state know little of collective bargaining, as do alot of the "part timers" union type reps that are protesting this. those people know little about REAL unions and REAL negotiations. Typical unions officials in Wisconsin pay lip service to their members at contract time, do little to improve shop floor conditions, get huge FAVORS from the companies to carry out corporate agendas and pretty much sell out their members at every turn. the state and teachers have been addressing the public employee benefits packages for TWO YEARS through collective bargaining. In this instance the TAXPAYER and the STATE are the EMPLOYER. In union negotiations with a financially troubled employer, employees generally take concessions to keep the place afloat. In Wisconsin the STATE is pushing a huge deficit....the state is TAPPED OUT...so are the TAXPAYERS (employer is tapped out)...the teachers have not been willing to pay into some of their retirement and insurance themselves for two years and now the government is playing hardball.
Also in Wisconsin the kids (students) are being asked to pick up more and more costs for materials while the teachers keep pushing for more $$ for themselves.
Unions are so weak and so screwed up in Wisconsin that the real shame on the governor is that he's picking on them when they're in their worst shape ever...kindof like a bully beating up on a guy in a wheelchair.

[Steady As She Goes]

Sorry reason. I missed your initial used car solution. So we agree that it's a possible solution. ;D But I didn't say a 2000 car ... I said EARLY 2000s ... that's a 2000-2005. There are good deals out there. And I'm sure, which minimal effort, you can find a friend to help find a quality used car.

I think you misunderstood my solution about the insurance. I said to INCREASE the deductible ... You answered as if I suggested lowering the coverage and then went on some gotta move thingy .... You can keep the same coverage.

And I don't know WHERE you got that I implied sacraficing health ... None of what I suggested sacrafices health ... but thanks for pointing out that it's important. It is!

And I too have lived in several states and cities ... I also have several family members that add to the number of cities and states lived in. I also have a brother who lived on 40K/yr ... in Ohio ... with a morgage, 2 cars and 2 teenagers (in parochial school). It wasn't easy ... but he made it work ... with most of what I stated in my earlier post. I CAN be done ... you just have to work at it.

Oh ... and V_L ... YOU have to be living under a rock to NOT find solutions. But then again, I already see the effort you're willing to put in ... "blah, blah, blah" ... that'll help!

[vl]

The point of the tread is to give illumination to the costs straight ahead and their impact on an already lean budget. A 50 cents increase in fuel can wreak havoc.

Kate and Reason... we all know what it's like and have reacted to be in a position to maintain, should costs continue to rise. We had too much prolonged prosperity. It produced a confidence in younger generations that's going to smart when it breaks. Too ego-centric. That too will pass.

[reasonfreedom]

Here is another article about how the gas prices will hinder the economy.

finance.yahoo.com/news/Airfares-Are-Chasing-Oil-nytimes-3570003069.html?x=0&.v=1

[Deleted]

Back in 2002 my wife and I decided to replace one of our aging P/U trucks with a new one. Since it was mostly to be used for running errands into town it didn't need big hauling capacity. I ordered a Chevy S-10 with the small 4 cylinder (2.2 liter) and a 5 speed manual transmission. My wife asked me why such a small vehicle when all the other trucks we bought were full size ones with V-8's. I told her in a few years gas is going to cost 200 to 300 % more than it costs now ( at that time little over a $1/gal.) and we will still have this vehicle when it happens. Needless to say I took a lot of good natured ribbing from my ranching neighbors on my choice of vehicle at that time. Now not so much. We currently live in a free market based economy, with a finite amount of cheap energy available at our level of technology. With western economies based on growth and butting heads with that finite cheap energy, it's not going to be pretty. Only one thing will lower the demand and that is higher prices. If you wish to use the same amount of energy you will have to give up something else. Sometimes a smaller ego is all that's needed.

[comokate]

I believe this was V_L's point; increasing fuel costs puts the biggest burden on those already on the lower tier ( read 70% of the U.S. ) of the economy. There isn't much wiggle room to begin with. When 70% begin to cut back on trips, groceries, cable, preventive health care , clothing purchases, restaurants, etc. , it will have a increasingly negative effect on the businesses supplying those goods and services. And the first businesses that get hurt are the small mom-and-pop's.







"Rising gasoline prices have already led Jayme Webb, an office manager at a recycling center in Sioux City, Iowa, and her husband, Ken, who works at Wal-Mart, to cut back on spending.

In the last month, they have canceled their satellite television subscription and their Internet service. They have also stopped driving from their home in rural Moville to Sioux City on weekends to see Ms. Webb’s parents.

Along with making their commutes to work more expensive, rising oil prices have driven up the cost of food for animals and people. So the couple have stopped buying feed for their dozen sheep and goats and six chickens and instead asked neighboring farmers to let them use scraps from their corn fields.

“It’s a struggle,” said Ms. Webb, 49. “We have to watch every little penny.”

A cutback in consumer spending reverberates through the economy by crimping businesses, making it less likely that employers will commit to the additional hiring needed to lower the 9 percent unemployment rate."


www.nytimes.com/2011/02/25/business/economy/25econ.html?src=me&ref=business