Seriously, is it just me.....

[gumbeau]

If gasoline is a major percentage of your monthly expenses, enough that this increase in prices is putting a crimp in your budget then you have bigger problems than worrying about a recession.

You need to get your personal house in order. Give up the internet and that should cover the difference in gas price. Or your cell phone. Or your hard wired phone. Or your cable TV/Sat TV subscription. Or about a dozen other things.

My stepson told me the other day that his step mother made him deliver food to 'poor' people as part of a church activities a few years ago when he was over there. The 'poor' had televisions worth thousands of dollars, yet were accepting church donated food.

He questioned the stepmother who responded 'they can't be held responsible for not knowing how to manage their money'.

Needless to say the boy is solidly Republican now.

BTW, a recession is two quarters back to back of negative growth. We probably just got OUT of one.

And yes, there are lots of foreclosures in my neighborhood too. They are all people who bought far too much house for their income. Bad decision making. Any house more than twice your annual salary is a bad idea.

[AVGWarhawk]

If gasoline is a major percentage of your monthly expenses, enough that this increase in prices is putting a crimp in your budget then you have bigger problems than worrying about a recession.

It is one expense for everyone. Gas prices going up go hand in hand with goods and services. Price of diesel rises as well. Getting your goods to the store rises. Processing the good rises. The Farmers who grow textiles expenses increase. It starts to snowball. So, it is a bit more then just one item on your list of expenses that increase. Not to mention utilites increase as well. Natural gas costs more. Getting coal to the burners that generate electricity increases as the diesel engines that pull it now experience an increase in the fuel costs. All is passed on to you, the consumer.

You need to get your personal house in order. Give up the internet and that should cover the difference in gas price. Or your cell phone. Or your hard wired phone. Or your cable TV/Sat TV subscription. Or about a dozen other things.

Not so easy in todays world that depends on these services to get through the day. Give up you hard wired phone. What, send smoke signals if you have a 911 emergency? Give up TV, no problem. I do not watch much of the mind sucker anyway.

My stepson told me the other day that his step mother made him deliver food to 'poor' people as part of a church activities a few years ago when he was over there. The 'poor' had televisions worth thousands of dollars, yet were accepting church donated food.

He questioned the stepmother who responded 'they can't be held responsible for not knowing how to manage their money'.

Needless to say the boy is solidly Republican now.

I don't blame him one bit. Nothing like watching a guy at the super market buying lobster tails for dinner on food stamps. But hey it is not his fault

BTW, a recession is two quarters back to back of negative growth. We probably just got OUT of one.

And yes, there are lots of foreclosures in my neighborhood too. They are all people who bought far too much house for their income. Bad decision making. Any house more than twice your annual salary is a bad idea.

The bad decision making is purely the banks poor decision to underwrite these loans to folks on the edge. They knew full well the monthy payment will go up in the form of rising interest rates. They always adjust up! Once those on the edge receive their new statement after the first 12 months into the mortgage, it has risen upwards of $200.00 more a month. For those on the edge from the start, lights out. Not to mention along with a fat house loan come easy credit card obtainment. Next thing they now, they are $25000.00 in debt from pure credit purchases. Nice big screen tv eh? They made it easy to get into a hole. Digging out is 10x harder.

I'm not a credit card holder. If I can not afford it I did not need it anyway

[Blacklight]

Seriously, is it just me..... or is everyone else in the US getting the pinch on the wallet?

It's not just you. I got creamed last year and this year things are going further into the crapper. The cost of living has trippled for me and my wages have stayed precisely the same.
Things have gotten so bad that we're discussing moving.

[August]

Originally Posted by Blacklight

It's not just you. I got creamed last year and this year things are going further into the crapper. The cost of living has trippled for me and my wages have stayed precisely the same.
Things have gotten so bad that we're discussing moving.

Tripled? How far do you commute every day?

[Blacklight]

Okay.. I'm exagerating, but rent has been continually going up, my gas prices have been going up like mad and I have an hour and a half drive each day. Utilities have been increasing their rates like mad. And on top of all that, my medical costs just went WAY up.

[Tchocky]

<3 public transport

[bradclark1]

Originally Posted by Tchocky

<3 public transport

Thats not that easy to do over here believe it or not. If I wanted to catch a bus I would have to walk three miles to catch a bus that only runs the route three times a day and it doesn't run in the evenings.

[August]

I walk to work and my gaz guzzling SUV stays in the garage.

[TteFAboB]

Originally Posted by Tchocky

<3 public transport

Can't beat self-sustaining vehicles. If only they made cars that ran on tax and other people's money and spitted coins out of the exhaust...

[Brag]

Bush?
Is that the guy who's been in charge of the US while that country changed from most popular to most hated around the world?

Ummm. My wallet is sufering, too.

[Rockin Robbins]

We're repeating history. Remember when diesel was 1/3 or 1/4 the price of gasonline because it was used commercially by truckers? Then the auto companies had a good idea: let's produce diesel autos to take advantage of the price disparity. The oil companies merely adjusted the price of diesel to gasoline levels.

What's about to happen. President O'Bama, under pressure to produce some of that change he's promising (when we need dollars:rotfl will push and possibly mandate plug-in hybrids. These hybrids will be plugged into your house electrical system to recharge batteries, the primary power source of these vehicles. Any guesses what will happen to your electrical bill? It's not goona be pretty.