In a twisted way, I'm kind of loving these fuel prices...

[youthere]

I'm getting hit like everyone else is..$45 to fill my little Mercury..BUT I have to confess to the smallest bit of perverted satisfaction when the owner of the SUV at the pump next to me (with a lovely sticker that says "Freedom Isn't Free" and one of those lovely yellow magnets) starts complaining it cost him $80 to fill his tank, and at the end of the month when he gets the bill for his fuel charge card it's over $1500. You know that feeling of "Ha! Serves you right!"

[karlrschneider]

1. I know exactly what you mean. I can fill my little Civic for $30

even at $3.15

The pumps are kinda old at the nearby station and can't be set to any price over $3 even so they have signs on top of them saying "Your cost will be TWICE the amount shown on the pump"

:silly:

[wordpix]

58. me, too. Bought it 5 yrs. ago when I saw the writing on the wall. Had a 40 mpg Civic since '88

[Virginia Dare]

2. True, but unfortunately it'll effect us all before too long..

the price of everything will start to be driven up...we're in for a bad spell I'm afraid...:-(

[mediawatch]

5. and even if the gas prices go down

everything that when up will stay up.

[Virginia Dare]

8. Yep, and unfortunately it hits small businesses first..

the big corporations can usually weather the storm and just use it as an excuse to pocket more of our money.

[mediawatch]

3. I can relate

I see us all buying smaller cars. This wont affect the super rich, but it will others. Which is most... I hope.

[xmas74]

7. But what about us who already have smaller cars?

I have a Tracer. Yes it's old but that's all I can afford. I can't afford to buy a new car right now. (In case you haven't noticed gas isn't the only thing that has gone up. Groceries are skyrocketing right now also.)

I can't afford a newer car. I can't afford gas right now. I can't afford much of anything and it's driving me crazy.

Sometimes I think they would prefer that the poor just die off.

[mediawatch]

17. I hear you

I just bought my 1994 Ford Escort last month for $500.00.

In my case I am just paying off my dept. as fast as I can. Waiting to get laid off. I know how so many felt before me. I wish I fought for them but you know the saying.............

[xmas74]

22. I'm waiting to be fired from my job.

I feel it coming since I can't just come in at the drop of a hat anymore. They'll find a reason and I can feel it right now.

The only jobs in my town are min wage, aimed at the university kids. Most are chain fast food places and discount stores. We stay here because the school district is one of the top in the state and I want my child to have a decent education.

Oh-my car is a 1993 Tracer. There's no debt on it and hasn't been for years. I can say that much about it. If I had to buy a new car I'd have a note to pay, along w/ increased auto insurance and still the petro.

Lower incomes are just screwed either way.

[mediawatch]

29. my job is going to India

We have been told. I just don't know when. Makes it hard to find another job because I want the package. Besides, the only places I am seeing for employment are in NY and Boston.

[xmas74]

33. Mine is just going to people

with less experience in the field.

They want the cheapest people possible to work for them and then wonder why they can't keep anyone around.

[SammyWinstonJack]

32. I assume you eat, right? Unless you grow your own food, every bit of it,

oh ... nevermind. :banghead:

[xmas74]

34. They got it later on.

We've been posting to each other and they know that it doesn't just affect Sunday drivers.

[SammyWinstonJack]

62. It affects us all, It isn't just what we pay at the pump. It's all goods and services. ie, food

prices etc. Park that SUV, take the bus, your price of food will still rise.

[xmas74]

4. But it also screws people like me over.

I can't afford gas prices as they are but I have to fuel up to drive to work.

I can't afford to take my daughter out of town-summer vacation has officially been cancelled.

The only time we now drive is to work. I can't afford to take her to the mall for school clothes, can't afford the zoo even once this summer, can't afford to visit friends even an hour away. It's too expensive.

Saddest part is that I'm not exaggerating. I know others who are just like me right now.

[youthere]

6. I hear you..

We're getting nailed HARD. I guess that's the only "joy"I can take from it..The repukes are suffering too.

[xmas74]

10. I just feel screwed over anymore.

Gas is too high, groceries are too high, rent-can't even afford that.

I get no assistance whatsoever but I don't make enough to "make it", according to my town's website. It just doesn't seem fair that my daughter has to listen to classmates talk about their trips to Disney World while her mother can't even afford a day trip to the zoo.

[renate]

18. Yeah, I'm not loving it at all

It's not so much a problem for our family--we're lucky, we can manage the few extra bucks plus we don't drive much--but a friend of ours drives a long way to work and it's really affecting her.

She couldn't afford to see a doctor so she removed what looked like a melanoma BY HERSELF (and no, we most certainly didn't know about this until afterwards or we would have totally made her take some money).

When fuel prices started rising I thought that at least the bright side would be that people would start using less gas. But it happened much too quickly for people to be able to adjust their driving, or car-buying, or living-closer-to-work habits.

Any satisfaction about people with gas guzzlers finally having to pay the price for their pollution is way offset by the very real suffering the prices are causing people at the other end of the economic spectrum.

[xmas74]

30. I haven't been to the doctor in so long

because, even w/ my insurance, I can't afford the copay. I have to save up in case my daughter ever needs to go.

We just can't afford to go anywhere anymore. We're stuck where we're at and I see no end in sight.

[Roland99]

46. You obviously aren't doing what you can. You should strive to be "uniquely American"!

"You work three jobs? … Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that." — (Bush) to a divorced mother of three, Omaha, Nebraska, Feb. 4, 2005

[xmas74]

50. I do work a few jobs.

I work one outside of the home and three at home.

He can suck my left one for all I care. 2009 won't come soon enough for me.

[Roland99]

56. Nor for me!

:toast:

[xmas74]

57. I hate that man

and I hate so very few people.

He's in the same league w/ my daughter's father.

[AlCzervik]

9. it's really hurting lower income people.

[youthere]

11. Oh I know, and I don't want to give the impression I want prices to stay high by ANY means..

It's just a little smugness I can "enjoy".

[AlCzervik]

27. i understand what you're saying. My Friend who is looking for work and

struggling is having a really hard time making ends meet, she finally let me give her some money for gas after me offering about a bazillion times. Unfortunately inflation is trickle up these days, it's always the lower income people that get screwed, $3.79 for a gallon of milk, same thing for a gallon of gas for a beater that doesn't get very good mileage but thats all they can afford.

[xmas74]

13. And I'm one of them.

I don't know where I'll get the money to drive to work the rest of the week.

[AlCzervik]

31. i'm sorry, i really hope your situation improves asap.

:hug:

[xmas74]

35. I'm applying at fast food places now.

At least I can walk to them and possibly receive some aid from the state.

I'm on the bubble right now. I make too much for assistance of any sort but don't make enough to survive.

[MikeE]

12. I get a satisfaction too

since I don't drive anywhere and don't even have a car, (although end up paying in other way by the costs that get passed on), but I think overall it will eventually change people's habits and get them to drive less, eat locally farmed produce, etc., as well as push the development of alternative energy production. Best of all, it will make people even more pissed off at this administration. Overall a good thing for the planet. :-)

[MadHound]

14. Yeah, but at least both he and you can still afford to fill the tank

Many, many poor and even middle class people can no longer afford their fuel bills. Senior citizens and others on fixed incomes are also getting hit hard. The poor are getting a double whammy, since most of the cars they can afford are older, much older, gas hogs. Then there are the indirect costs that are really starting to effect all of us. The rise in fuel prices means the rise in food prices, and frankly anything else that is produced using or transported by gasoline power. At least your SUV owner can afford to go out and drop down the money for a new, fuel efficient car. They can also take the price hike of food, clothing, etc. to their budget. Many, many poor and working people can't.

Schadenfreude is a fine thing except when it comes at the expense of innocent bystanders.

[Auggie]

15. The best thing that could come of this is that it'll create demand for

smaller, fuel-efficient cars. Permanently!

[youthere]

23. Honestly? I just don't see it happening...

for the most part. There are those sensible people out there that will trade off for something more fuel efficient, but I really think gas would have to hit the $7-8 mark before most people would trade off. I hope I'm wrong, and I'd hate to see things get that bad, but I just don't see it happening.

[Auggie]

60. It's a hope...

After the '73 oil embargo and subsequent "shortages" in the late '70s attention turned to small cars -- for a while anyhow. But I think prices like this are here to stay, and automakers are going to have to be ready to meet for a sudden change in demand as prices continue to rise.

It's a hope.

[malaise]

16. Wait until the food prices start increasing because of

transportation costs. Then you'll see some serious rage.

[xmas74]

20. They already have,

if you look around.

Biggest increase I've noticed is toilet paper. It's doubled in price in a 4 month period.

[youthere]

21. start increasing?

I have a panic attack everytime I go to the grocery store. Every two weeks I have to whittle my list down more and more just to compensate for the rising prices AND the extra money I'm spending on gas to get there.

[xmas74]

24. Not just coffee and sugar

(noticed jumps there) but have you noticed a jump in toilet paper? That's the one that has shocked me the most.

[youthere]

25. YES! Outrageous. I'm going to have to start collecting Montgomery Wards catalogs. LOL!

[xmas74]

28. It's almost doubled in price

in about 4 months.

And I love a few of the people chiming in on here about how they hope it gets even higher on gas prices because it doesn't hurt them. (I've read your responses back. I'd say we agree.)

[youthere]

41. yeah..

I'm not actually cheering about the high prices...I'm just glad that if I've got to eat a huge dookie sandwich that the sympathizers to the bastards who are in bed with the big oil companies have a seat at the buffet too.

[xmas74]

51. exactly.

[malaise]

36. Guess that explains the 24% support

If price increases get people to wake up and impeach Bush, it will be worth it.

[wordpix]

59. Grow your own. There's a guerilla gardening movement. Take over a neglected plot

or your backyard. :)

[proud patriot]

61. I love it I garden and have fruit trees etc..

guerilla gardening :think:

[vvera]

19. I get 100mpg on my scoot!

I hope it goes to 5.00 a gallon

[xmas74]

26. I love how you think about others.

Im my state we can't drive a scooter outside of the city limits of any town. I looked it up-no highway driving whatsoever.

This already hurts me. If it goes to 5 a gallon my daughter and I will have to almost move into my junkie car. (No, I don't have a big car-it's a small older vehicle, no place to even try to sleep.) Between gas and the increase in groceries we've given up almost everything else.

[uppityperson]

45. My income has dropped because people are not able to afford much anymore

People are trying to charge less, trying to spend less, everything costs more. My income is dropping because people cannot afford to meet their health insurance premiums (am in health care) so aren't seeking care. My costs are soaring due to everything costing more. I would like to charge more, but people already can't afford to pay for their health care. This is NOT just about being able to afford to take a trip, or about getting your body around, but is affecting many of us in many ways.

[Ron Green]

37. It's the bitter pill we have to eventually swallow...

if we ever want to come out on the other side with a sustainable world. Locally-grown food, renewable energy, public transportation, community-based zoning, redefinition of corporate personhood - the list goes on and on, but it's all required if humans are going to live another millennium on this planet. And the path there includes a painful stretch of true-cost accounting for the non-renewables to which we're addicted. Gasoline should have been $3.00 a gallon 20 years ago, and now (or soon) it ought to be 8 or 10 dollars.

Lots of other things have to happen globally as well, and they can't be done at the point of a gun.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

38. Hmmm... I Find It Tough To Find Joy In Things That Bring Pain To Already Struggling Families.

I also find it hard to be that selfish. To each their own perspective.

[xmas74]

39. Like the poster above

who hopes prices go up to $5 a gallon?

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

44. Yup. Pretty Selfish And Disgraceful Of A Sentiment To Hold. Some People Never Cease To Amaze Me

with their ignorance and narrow minded ideals.

[xmas74]

47. Thank you.

If I could afford something better I would. If I could find a job that made more I'd take it. If I could afford to move...

You get the picture.


I'm stuck. I do the best I can. I can't afford for prices to go up any higher.

[mwb970]

40. I get 80 cents a gallon off!

A local grocery store here in Columbus has a deal where you get 20 cents per gallon off every time you spend $50 at their store (including gift cards for numerous other stores...) so most of my fillups (like the one I got today) are at 80 cents off, which does help some.

[taterguy]

43. Does that store offer a comparable incentive to people who bike or walk?

If not they're being rather irresponsible

[mwb970]

55. The places I go to are too far to bike or walk.

I saved over $8 on the last fillup. It adds up, and I like the savings.

[roamer65]

48. Delete.

[uppityperson]

42. Food prices are raising fast due to fuel prices. Going to hit us all hard soon.

Yes, you can cut back on many things, wondering how many people are going to start home gardening again. Food costs are going up up up up up.

[roamer65]

49. I'm waiting for our mental midget pResident to announce...

"Since gas prices are so high, we'll now sell it in litres to help people out.":rofl: :sarcasm:

[anakie]

52. your gas prices are only catching up with the rest of the world

Oddly enough low gas prices are not a god given right (like the right to bear arms <sar> lol). Price gouging by oil companies as well as peak oil mean we all have to pay higher gas prices.

I feel for the lower paid people - but it is not just an American problem; it happens world wide. Welcome to reality.

Peace

[AlCzervik]

53. well at least in Europe they're getting something for it--health care and education.

[uppityperson]

54. Too bad much of the higher prices in rest of world is for taxes, here sheer profit

[SammyWinstonJack]

63. You are twisted if you think only owners of SUV will be affected badly. It's about the cost of all

goods and services. :spank:

[Endangered Specie]

64. if you love them so much, how about we charge you more

and the rest of us pay less?