Why will us country folks take a harder hit?
The folks who are really screwed are the exurbanites who decided to buy a house 35 miles from work because they wanted the high class lifestyle that they couldn't afford if they lived within 10 miles of work.
My friends in town can take a bike or walk to the store. Their kids walk to school. Some of them have gyms, libraries and doctors' offices less than a mile from their homes.
Right now it costs me about $16 just for gas to get to the store and home. (It's terrible if I forget something!) It costs $25 to take my son to his lessons and get him home. To take the truck back and forth to work, it costs my husband about $500 a month.
You can plan ahead and combine as much into one trip as possible, but there's a limit. Last month we put about $750 into our gas tanks just for necessary driving. Heck, it's 10 miles to the nearest gas station and back. (Then I'm going to pay $6.00 for a gallon of milk.) We're buying a car this year for hubby's commute (gotta spend money to save money) and I'm planning out my schedule for maximum efficiency.
Folks who live in my area aren't exactly "rolling in it" and I know we're all feeling the pinch. The reason I say that the social unrest will begin in the urban areas is because the country folk seem to be a bit more patient and civilized than those in the cities.