Oh good, oil prices are up again! That must mean we are getting out of the recession! That must mean everyone has a job and can afford $4-a-gallon gas at the pump again!
NOT!
As gas prices have been marching steadily upwards, my wallet continues to grow more and more anemic. I drive about 70 miles round trip for work. On the weekends, between soccer, softball, baseball and the occasional (groan) trip to the mall, I probably put another 70 to 100 miles on it. That’s nearly 500 miles a week. My car, a 2000 Maxima, chugs along at about 22 miles per gallon, meaning I have to refill the old warhorse 5 or 6 times a month. When gas was $1.50, that was $20 to $25 per fill up, or about $125 a month. Now, it’s $2.35 at my local pump, which is almost $37 per fill up, or almost $200 a month, depending on how many extra trips I make. That’s nearly $75 a month no longer in my wallet. Or about $900 a year. If prices keep going up, as I suspect they might, I’ll be out more than $1,000 over the course of the next year.
But hey, at least we’re out of the recession! Problem is, with that money out of my wallet, that’s less cash for me to go buy stuff, which is what we need to do go get out of the recession, right?
