Impact of increase in gasoline prices

More and more people are concerned about the rising prices especially after the oil price hike which has reached another record of 138USD/barrel last Friday (and with speculations of even hitting the 200USD/barrel mark in the next months).

I read that in some countries, people are changing their diets (moving to cheaper foods).

What concessions, if any, have you made when it comes to your lifestyle as a result of the ongoing crisis? Or don't you feel any significant impact yet on your level?

Personally, I don't really *feel* the crunch maybe because I don't have a car (so I'm not preoccupied by gasoline prices). I know some of my friends have cancelled their trips to Europe because of the currency power - the dollar is getting weak (it works opposite for me for my trip over the holiday).

Or it can be I'm used to being in a financial crisis so there's nothing new.

that seems to be the case for my family too. but my parents are usually more stressed about things just because of the constant problem of rising prices of gas. and not just gas, other things like food prices are also steadily rising.

i believe our country is headed straight for a recession, that is, if u don't already think the U.S. are in a recession

It does seem that US is most directly affected by the hike because it's the biggest consumer of oil. Of course if US economy fails, the impact doesn't stay within the US. It will be felt worldwide.

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What concessions, if any, have you made when it comes to your lifestyle as a result of the ongoing crisis? Or don't you feel any significant impact yet on your level?

I have not made any concessions. I have for a number of years been vigilante and cautious of my spending and always live on bare minimum, as I am also not a home owner, and also have no debt; the effects of global and national economies barely hits me. I have noticed a slight rise in food and fuel prices, but its significance I have not noticed at my level of consumerism. Maybe I am spending an extra £5($10) every month.


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i believe our country is headed straight for a recession, that is, if u don't already think the U.S. are in a recession.

Its certainly starting, I do not think oil and food price is to blame. The irresponsible lending and borrowing is the real reason. Only the materialistic borrowing society has been keeping the economy rolling but now that goods are becoming less affordable and their debts fully catch-up its all downhill from there.

You know what this is part of the economic cycle. The U.S. has been in an economic slump since 9/11. We started to bounce back and rising oil prices curbed it.

I think the Bush administration did a poor job with economy management and for republicans they seemed to not be as concerned with the economic situation of the U.S. They are not going to call it a recession until Bush leaves screwing over whoever wins the election with the economic problem.

I mean Americans have become too materialistic, are terrible savers, and have huge credit card debts. We love to spend our money and it has caught up with now.

As much as I like the economy to be booming I think we need the economic reality check. The economies around the world are starting to boom but we are not.