If $4.00 gasoline is doing this much damage, what happens at $5.00?
4 out of 10 Americans facing financial hardship because of high gasoline prices
According to a new Associated Press-GfK poll, $4.00 gasoline is beginning to “cause serious financial hardship” for 4 out of 10 Americans, while causing “some hardship” for 71 percent of Americans.
Yet, isn’t $4.00 gas destined to become much more common in the coming years? Even worse, aren’t much higher gas prices possible?
Are there any easy solutions?
If, for instance, gas prices rise to $5.00+ permanently because of terrorist activities that make the Middle East far more unstable than today, can new car sales save the day? If you can’t afford $4.00 gas, can you afford a new car? A new bike is more like it, and ironically, bicycle sales have skyrocketed in recent months.
Nevertheless, it seems quite clear that the worst of oil dependence, particularly foreign oil dependence, is yet to come.
The right says drill, drill, drill. The left says electrify, electrify, electrify. Yet, even a robust plan that embraces both might not be able to avert serious pain in coming years, suggesting that US energy policy can’t move fast enough. Unfortunately, it seems as if it is barely moving at all.
But its not just political gridlock. Despite nice fuel efficient gains in recent years, the mainstream auto industry is still fighting against serious change, largely because consumers don’t really seem ready for big change. We the people don’t trust politicians, automakers or even our neighbors.
Fortunately, gas prices will probably recede a bit in coming months, but that might just be the calm before an even bigger storm. But hey, at least we’ll be able to enjoy gas-guzzling one last time.
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