Fuel Prices Fucking Families
Gas prices have gone up steadily in the last few days, jumping from an average of $3.42 Saturday to $3.44 yesterday in Philadelphia, and from $3.26 to $3.29 in South Jersey.
With gas prices jumping an average of 16 cents in two weeks nationally, they are as high as they were during the gas crunch of 1981, adjusted for inflation.
Not only were fewer people filling up, Montalvo said yesterday, an employee at the Callowhill Street gas station, but the high cost of gas is also affecting his habits.
“Usually $20 fills my whole tank,” said Montalvo, who drives a Toyota Scion. “Last time, I spent $30, and it doesn’t even come close to filling it.”
Montalvo is driving less and taking SEPTA more, he said. Gas prices have even affected how much he sees his girlfriend, who lives in Bristol.
“Once it’s $4 a gallon, I’m going to stop driving altogether,” Montalvo vowed. “By the time you leave the gas station now, you have no money in your pocket to go home and pay your bills.”
Yup, yup, and yup.
We have had to change many of our plans, from daily minutiae to weekly projections to the entire summer to winter as a result of fuel prices.
The cost of gasoline means that my girlfriend has to choose between driving an hour each direction to work, or taking public transportation, which while marginally cheaper makes her commute 2 hours in each direction. She already has no life as it is because she gets home in time for Simpsons,, dinner, and bed, but if she has to go back to public transit, I have no idea how we’re going to do anything fun on weeknights.
I had a few extra bluegrass festivals I was hoping to hit this year, and have cut all of them out because I can’t afford the gas. And the few festivals I’m playing this summer are going to cost me more than I earn as a performer.
We are travelling to Austin, Texas in a few weeks, and have opted not to rent a car when we arrive. The cost of gas will literally destroy our budget.
And as the cost of gas rises, so does the cost of food, thanks to the ethanol boondoggle. Thus for the first time in I don’t know how long, when we spend $100.00 at the grocery, we don’t even come close to filling the refrigerator. And we’ve taken to harvesting common weeds, like wild violet, chickweed and dandelion greens, from the backyard to supplement the food we buy. I’m already on the lookout for old windows, so we can build cold frames and keep the carrots, onions, turnip tops, and lettuce coming throughout the winter.
All of this has happened because of the Republicans and their stupid war in Iraq. They should be renamed the No Fun Party, because when Republicans are in office, no one except the super rich get to have any fun at all. Shit, we don’t get to eat either.
…adding, this isn’t due to financial mismanagement or penury on our part either. We’re both salaried employees with benefits, Christina makes at least $10K more than I do, we’re both extremely frugal with our energy use, we stay home more often than we go out, and our vices are pretty darned inexpensive.
But when it costs nearly $4.00 a gallon to put fuel in your car, and you depend on that car to get to work, it takes a major chunk out of your income. When the credit cards charge interest rates of 18%-25%, your minimum payment goes up painfully. When the cost of a gallon of OJ is pushing $7.00, and the price of staples like milk and bread go up seemingly every day, more and more of your income goes to basic needs. We don’t have a savings because we literally can’t afford to save anything.
Again, it’s not because we’re the embodiment Aesop’s fabled grasshopper: it’s that the dollar doesn’t buy what it used to anymore, while the price of everything has gone up. It’s more like America has become an an early 20th Century mining camp, and we get paid in worthless company scrip.
April 21st, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Brendan-
Not to be a republican apologist here, but I think the problem is more complicated than just the Iraq invasion.
The U.S. dollar has been a reserve currency since the end of WW2, which made the U.S. wealthier than they would have been otherwise. Unfortunately, we thought we were entitled to this wealth for some reason other than a stable currency. We’ve been increasing our money supply (M0 for the econ nerds out there) faster than the rate of growth of our economy since the 60’s. This hasn’t caused all the inflation it should have because foreign banks were willing to hold onto it for their reserves. Like giving someone a check that they don’t cash, it made us wealthier than we should have been.
Now, this opens us up to the risk that they will dump the money on the markets i a short period of time, causing the U.S. dollar to dramatically fall in value.
Which is what may happen sooner than we think.
The Federal Reserve Bank is trying to decide which is easier to live with- inflation or recession and chose inflation since 2001.
They kept the interest rate low to encourage borrowing in the attempt to spur the domestic economy. They’re also trying to reduce the impact of hundreds of thousands of adjustable rate mortgages resetting this year on the already weak housing market. They’re also loaning money against those shaky mortgage backed securities to shove $ into the markets to prevent a credit meltdown. If these securities don’t pay off, the U.S. Treasury is going to have to print money to cover those losses. Cue the inflation music.
The European central bankers are more worried about inflation than recession right now, so they’ve increased their interest rates to cool their economies.
This means investors can make higher returns buying European bonds instead of T-bills. This increases demand for the euro and decreases demand for the dollar, since you have to buy T-bills with dollars and euro bonds with euros.
All this causes a downward spiral- the U.S. dollar is (and is going to continue) losing value until it’s as safe an investment as the euro.
Now it gets interesting when someone holding significant U.S. dollars (such as the Bank of China or Bank of Japan) decides that the dollar is a bad investment. If either of those institutions dumps their dollars, the inflation you note will be a pleasant memory.
While the war in Iraq has decreased the oil supply, what we’re seeing is other chickens coming home to roost.
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:16 am
hmmm, I think the guy is lying about his scion and gas.
I have a corolla and get @30mpg, costs @33-35 to fill my tank.
I noticed the first time I paid 30$, but 31-34$ has not been an issue. I have not seen a 20$ fill up in a very long time. 5$ in a toyota is no big deal, trucks and vans are a different story of course.
anyway, as per our discussion, I think you guys would be better off living in my hood, but that is cause I am selfish and want my friends to be convenient to me!
also, the commute up 95 to trenton is easier starting from over here, but you really need the flexible hours–I work 7-3 and hit no traffic at all and can make it to princeton in @40 minutes.
On the other issue, I would be interested in splitting some farming costs, We could buy some acrylic/plastic panels or sheeting from this place– farmtek.com and make cold frames…Hell, you could probably cobble together a small green house and heat it with a space heater too…