Last weekend we went up to Massachusetts for my niece's baptism. We filled up twice and passed lots of stations in different states. I heard on the radio this morning that the national average, currently $3.62, has gone up $.15 in the last two weeks and $.30 in the last month. Here's what I saw:
5/2 New Jersey $3.79
5/4 Worcester, MA $3.57
5/4 Connecticut $3.85
5/4 CT - NY border $3.97 ouch!
5/5 Brooklyn, NY $3.79
I'm not one for political-economic commentary on my blog, but I see that this is bad. It's also complicated. My dad looks at it this way - he remembers when he could fill up for $5. Now it's 12 times that but he makes much more than 12 times what he made back then, so he's ok with it. I guess any way you can find to be ok with it will save you some stress, but not everyone has the luxury. It makes me sweat to fill up but we can't complain too much because we drive so little relative to the nation at large - Ed commutes on public transportation and I walk almost everywhere. I also heard on the radio some people expect it to climb another $.30 before it peaks. I remember just before we left Colorado 3 years ago it was just breaking $2/gallon - an outrage! It helps to talk to Ed - my financial tutor - about things like this because he can put it in a broader, even historical, perspective. Even so, it's bad. Depression and inflation at the same time spell trouble. Boo for air travel going through the roof just as Dave moved to England! Hip-hip-hooray for food storage, paying tithing, public transportation and stockpiling rice and gas if that summer tax cut happens, which I am against, by the way. Even I can see it's pointless to solve a problem by causing ten more.
What's the damage where you live - how much are you paying for gas right now?
10 comments:
down here in texas we are paying about 3.45, not bad when looking at the national adv, but still hits us. Glad to see you are against cutting the gas tax, I watched an interview this morning with Clinton who wants that very thing, but it makes no sense. I was going to write a post about it today (I do write a political blog) but I decided to pay tribute to Cinco de Manyo instead, maybe later this week. Viva la Mexico
We are paying between 3.57 and 3.67 a gallon depending on the station we go to . I have cut my driving down drastically and consolidate my errands any time I can. Forrest commutes about an hour both ways and gas is totally taking its toll on our monthly fun money cushion. Luckily his new building that is only 25 minutes away will be open in early July and he will be able to work from home a few more days a week.
We are filled up on Saturday and we paid 3.65 a gallon at costco (cheapest in our area) All the other gas stations are averaging 3.79 a gallon!! We have one car so Edric drives himself to work and back and does the grocery shopping since the market we go to is near his work (think shoppers food warehouse if you are from VA) We do just about everything to curtail driving. We limit all errands to one day a week. When we move in July Edric will carpool with a co-worker so we will decrease our gas buying from once a week to every two weeks!! They might even get one more passenger and that would be even better. We will save about 120 a month with the current gas rates if he car pools and 180 if they add on a person.
I am against cutting the gas tax as a relief as well. It is a total "lets boost our campaign move" and it won't really give anyone relief from the high prices. The average American would only save $12 a month. They would save three times that much if they didn't eat out one time a month. Obama is the only one talking truthfully about the real reasons behind the other candidates intentions.
(Mia lives in TN and Kelsey lives in Las Vegas, right?)
Sometimes I come down with a pathetic case of car envy. Thinking about how much I'm NOT having to pay in gasoline usually cures me pretty quick.
I live in reno.... but vegas was a good guess!
We filled up Saturday (Loveland CO) and we paid $3.49 I think, or something close. And that's down about a nickel from earlier in the week!
kari, bring on the economic commentary! i'm right into it, and i'm fascinated by what you're experiencing in the states. during my time in the states a few weeks ago, it cost $50 to fill up the van i was borrowing. i recalled that when i left the states in 2001 gas was $1.80/gallon. we don't have a car here. alan uses the tube to get to work, and i walk most everywhere. but there's another way we're saving by not having a car: avoiding the congestion tax. it costs $16USD A DAY to drive into metro london. i heard NYC was considering this, but that it died. we live within the congestion zone, meaning we wouldn't have to pay the tax if we did have a car, and if we drove in and out of the zone we'd get a discount, but still... let's all hope airfares go down so you can come to the UK to visit us and dave...
Still $1.40 per gallon here in Dubai.
($1.30 if you fill up with 93 octane instead of the normal 95 octane.)
We were in Oman last weekend and it was $1.22 per gallon there.
When my dad was in Hong Kong, he said that it would cost my uncle about $100 to fill up his car. Now that really hurts.
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