One Clear Dot

The game is getting old. Rumors about a storm? Gas prices go up. Hugo Chavez in the news? Gas prices go up. One gas station within 10 blocks raises prices? So do the rest of the gas stations. Do gas prices quite literally need to be as high as they are this week? Look at the prices the public at large has been conditioned to think is a bargain. If gas goes below $3 a gallon, people get giddy. $3 a gallon! That’s nuts.

I am driving less and less. I combine errands and skip non-essential errands altogether. My van is sitting out in the drive way now on empty. I need to get gas before I take my daughter to school in the morning, but I am sure I will not fill the tank.

The higher gas prices go, the more lower and middle class people will stop spending on other things like food, entertainment and luxury items. I eat out less now simply because I don’t want to get in the car. I save my money for an extra tank of gas rather than buying cool, new shoes for my daily jogs.

While some people my not understand the impact that rising gas, wheat and dairy prices are bringing, there are those of us who fell the pinch a lot quicker. One change leads to another and for me it is generally triggered by gas prices.

Posted on February 25th, 2008 by onecleardot
Filed under: Finance