Gas Prices Soar, Posing a threat to Family Budgets: NY Times

Gas Prices Soar, Posing a threat to Family Budgets: NY Times

www.nytimes.com

The increases could not come at a worse time for the economy. With growth slowing, energy increases that were once easily absorbed by consumers are now more likely to act as a drag on household budgets, leaving people with less money to spend elsewhere. These costs could worsen the nation’s economic woes, piling a fresh energy shock on top of the turmoil in credit and housing.

“The effect of high oil prices today could be the difference between having a recession and not having a recession,” said Kenneth S. Rogoff, a Harvard economist.

The depth of the nation’s economic problems became clearer Tuesday with the release of figures showing that prices at the producer level rose 1 percent in January from December, driven in large measure by energy costs. Compared with a year ago, prices were up 7.4 percent, the worst producer price inflation in the United States since 1981.

Other new figures showed that home prices around the country are falling at an accelerating pace, suggesting no end is in sight for the housing slump.

As of Tuesday, regular gasoline was selling at a nationwide average of $3.14 a gallon, according to AAA, the automobile club, up from $2.35 a year ago. The price has jumped 19 cents a gallon in two weeks.

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Awesome, $4 Dollar a gallon gasoline by this summer! Couple that with sky-rocketing Food/ inflation rates, and we have all the makings of a terrific year ahead of us. It just keeps getting worse and worse.

www.nytimes.com
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Originally posted by DimensionalDetective


Awesome, $4 Dollar a gallon gasoline by this summer! Couple that with sky-rocketing Food/ inflation rates, and we have all the makings of a terrific year ahead of us. It just keeps getting worse and worse.

www.nytimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Yep, DD... it sounds like you need to spend less time posting and more time making that money to put food on the table.

reply to post by DimensionalDetective


I think it's gonna be sooner than this summer where I live. I'm in suburban Seattle, and it's already $3.43. If this crap keeps up, I'm going to need to go get an electric.

TheBorg