well unless you are running off money at the copy machine, or are able to go to your employer and ask for an instant raise to cover your increased gasoline costs - it is certainly reducing your disposable income level. for many americans, they maintain that level by going deeper into credit card debt.
sustained $2+ gasoline will change american's buying habits for SUVs/light trucks/minivans. and since that is the only profitable area for US carmakers, watch what happens to sales and profits at GM and Ford going into 2005 if gasoline stays at $2+.
But think of all those high-paying jobs in the oil services industry the U.S. will create if it enforces a mandatory minimum price of $3.00 per gallon. Isn't that the concept behind a tariff?
No it won't. Never has. We had a little dance with that in the early '70's when people were inconvenience by having to wait in line for gas. Now THAT set some people off. It wasn't the price that pissed them off it was the lines. You're from somewhere like California with 2.00$ a gallon gas aren't you? I hope you understand that almost 40% of you gas dollar goes to extroadinary regulation by California. Do you know that California must use separate pipelines from the rest of the world because of the difference in fuel construction? And Californians wonder why Enron peeled their skulls back.
The slump in Big Two sales has been happening since June. Only the gas-efficient foreign nameplates are selling--and the high-end stuff like BMW Lexus, Benz