The AP reports, "Like a plague that does not discriminate by economic class, race or age, soaring fuel prices are inflicting pain throughout the U.S. Nine in 10 expecting the ballooning costs to squeeze them financially over the next half-year, an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll released Monday says." The poll has tracked 2,000 people since last fall, "to see how their views change during the presidential campaign. The latest survey shows how the price of gasoline has caught or eclipsed every other issue, not just as a political topic but as a problem in peoples' lives." Almost fifty percent of respondents expect their family to suffer "serious hardship" because of high gas prices through the rest of 2008. "To cope, most are driving less, easing off the air conditioning and heating at home and cutting corners elsewhere. Half are curtailing vacation plans; nearly as many are considering buying cars that burn less gas."
New records are occurring weekly. CNN Money reports, "Retail gas prices and crude oil futures rose to record highs Monday amid a backdrop of Mideast tensions and dollar concerns. The national average price for a gallon of gasoline climbed to $4.086, according to a daily survey by motorist group AAA."
Some analysts see prices rising so high that many are forced to simply stop driving.
The Detroit Free Press reports, "Growing global demand and supply constraints will push oil prices to $200 a barrel and gas prices to $7 a gallon within four years, forcing 10 million U.S. cars off the road, according to Jeff Rubin, chief economist at CIBC World Markets." Rubin predicts, "Many of those in the exit lane will be low-income Americans from households earning less than $25,000 per year. At their current driving habits, filling up the tank will have risen from about 7% of their income to 20%, an increase that will see many start taking the bus."
Autoblog Green adds, "Interestingly, Rubin compares U.S. driving habits with those of individuals living in Britain. Statistics show that ninety-percent of American drivers commute every day to work in an automobile, while only sixty-percent of British workers do the same. Fuel prices in America, though rising, have yet to match those that many European countries have seen for years."
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