I’ve been spending about $200 per month on gas, Mr. LC probably spends twice that amount, since he has to drive a full size pickup for work. And when he pulls a trailer he eats up even more gas. So we’re getting whacked for about $600 per month. That’s more than a car payment. The average American family isn’t faring much better, according to CNN Money.
Round-trip airfare from New York to Los Angeles. More than a dozen dinners for two at Applebee’s. Two 16 GB iPod nanos.
These are just a few of the things you could have bought if you weren’t spending $368.09 a month on gasoline.
That’s the average amount American households spent on gas in April, according to an exclusive analysis of data by the Oil Price Information Service for CNNMoney.
The study, which compared average gas prices with median incomes nationwide, also showed that U.S. households spent nearly 9% of their total income on gas last month.
That’s more than double what the average American family spent just two years ago, when gas prices were hovering around $2.05 a gallon.
Thanks to the policies of the Obama administration, all of that money isn’t available to be spent on other things. Throw in the rising cost of food, the falling value of the dollar, and stagnant wages and we have a recipe for ongoing economic malaise. Jay Cost calls the new economy the “food stamp recovery.” That sounds about right.
Tags: family budget, food, food stamps, gas prices, recovery
“Thanks to the policies of the Obama administration”
How’s that? Obama isn’t responsible for peak oil. Nor is he responsible for a lack of domestic drilling since even if a 100 new wells had been dug on his inauguration day there wouldn;t be a single drop of additional oil right now. You might want to blame Bush for that, since, you know, he was president from 2000-2008, meaning wells started at the beginning of hist term actually would be coming on line now. Nor is Obama at fault for the deep water horizon blow, you know one of the worst oil spills of all time, killed 11 people, cost us enormous amounts of money.
So what exactly has Obama done that has caused the current spike in gas costs?
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When gas prices rose under Bush he lifted the moratorium on drilling and prices went down. Obama’s administration has been in contempt of court over the new moratorium and subsequent permitorium. The Gulf economy has been decimated by his decisions. And how long has the left been telling us it will take 10 years to get any oil? Try 30 years! So, I suppose you’re right. It’s not all Obama’s fault. The Democrats and lefties who preceded him also are to blame, and the environmentalist scare mongers.
And look at the decline in oil production since 2009. Is that Bush’s fault, too?
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[...] The Cost of Gas is Eating Up 9% of Average Family Budget [...]
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