Gas prices from both sides

Posted at 12:45 PM on October 29, 2008 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Energy

Gas price perspective:

Nearly a third of Americans are cutting back on vacation and travel plans for later in the year, and 27 percent are cutting back on eating out because of record-high gas prices, a retail survey found Tuesday.
-- CNN, 5/19/04 when gasoline hit $2 a gallon .

It is worth repeating that based on price moves that have already happened, the average household is going to reduce its spending on fuel, including transportation fuel, by $4,800 per year. Include the savings to the consumer from price decreases of other raw materials and the average household will spend $12,000 less in the next 12 months. This $12,000 increase in the family budget will not be taxable income, it is more like found money.
-- Seeking Alpha. 10/28/2008 "Relief is on the Way."

The average price of gasoline in Minnesota today is $2.20, but there are plenty of stations selling it for as low as $2.04, according to MinnesotaGasPrices.com.

---

Comments (5)

"Include the savings to the consumer from price decreases of other raw materials and the average household will spend $12,000 less in the next 12 months."


What level of household income is this based on? It doesn't sound plausible.

Posted by bsimon | October 29, 2008 1:23 PM

---

At $60 per week. If you fill your average size car up once a week, thats $3200 per year. Prices are nearly half of that. So that's $1600 per year. Then if you have 2 cars, it's doubled again. Now if you have a less efficient car, it would be more. So, the average is anywhere from $3000-$5000 per year for a 2 car family. $1500-$3000 per 1 car family.

Posted by JB | October 29, 2008 1:31 PM

---

At $60 per week. If you fill your average size car up once a week, thats $3200 per year. Prices are nearly half of that. So that's $1600 per year. Then if you have 2 cars, it's doubled again. Now if you have a less efficient car, it would be more. So, the average is anywhere from $3000-$5000 per year for a 2 car family. $1500-$3000 per 1 car family.

Posted by JB | October 29, 2008 1:31 PM

---

I've always wanted to find $12,000.

Posted by Joel | October 29, 2008 3:15 PM

---

And here I was happy to see gas go down to $2.66 from $2.76.

Posted by Alanna in MI | October 30, 2008 8:29 AM

---

Post a comment

The following HTML tags are allowed in your comments:
+ Bold: <b>Text</b>
+ Italic: <i>Text</i>
+ Link: <a href="http://url" target="_blank">Link</a>
Fields marked with * are required.

Name*:

E-mail Address*:

URL:

Remember personal info?

Comments*:

Comment Preview appears above this form upon pressing the "preview" button. Edit your comment and press "preview" again, until you are satisfied with your comment.

Your comment may not appear on the blog until several minutes after it was submitted.

• E-mail this page
• Print this page
• Tweet this page
• Share this

Services

• Hourly Newscast
• HD Radio
• iPhone App / Mobile
• E-mail newsletters
• RSS feeds
• Podcasts
• Submit your photos
• Videos
• Weather
• Most e-mailed stories