Whole sale prices up the largest amount 12/10 in a years time.

[MrsPinecone]

My car averages 31 mpg, so it's not nearly as bad as someone whose SUV sucks gas.

I have already been trying to eat more locally. The produce is fresher and cheaper. I have started canning some things when they are in season.

I've been doing this coupon thing for 6.5 years. I have a good couple of years of cleaning supplies, and a decent stock of the staples that we use.

[heartse]

I am glad that I had started to step up my stockpiling a bit before the end of the year. I am not quite where I would like to be, but I am going to get it going some more. yikes!

[uncommon]

I drive 120 miles per day, 4 days per week to get back and forth to work. With the job market looking like it does for the foreseeable future, this won't be avoidable for awhile.

:shrug:

[shelleyf]

I am going to continue to pray like I always do. I am making it by doing this and He has never let me down.

[whatsfree4me]

I'm not to worried about the gas prices hitting $5 a gallon. It seems when prices were spiking a couple of years back, they were saying $6 and it never got close to that. If it gets up to $4 you will have people cutting back on their gas usage and not traveling like they did last time and the prices will have to drop again. They would only be hurting themselves if they raised it that much.

[Mothernature]

Wow wow wow.

I printed out the $3 Glad Flex bag coupons last night. Just returned from Target in shock at the prices.

In 1/2005, I paid $1 per 40 ct of Glad garbage bags after holiday clearance and coupons. I have enough bags to last until mid-2013. The garbage bags cost $4.50 retail.

The cost of Glad bags 42 ct are $7.59! Whoa!

My husband gave me guff for buying so many garbage bags in 2005. When I show him the receipt, I will ask for an apology lol.

[Mothernature]

I'm not to worried about the gas prices hitting $5 a gallon. It seems when prices were spiking a couple of years back, they were saying $6 and it never got close to that. If it gets up to $4 you will have people cutting back on their gas usage and not traveling like they did last time and the prices will have to drop again. They would only be hurting themselves if they raised it that much.

Fossil Fuels are dwindling and oil trades illegally. There is little motive to keep gas at lower prices except the threat to end drilling (which oil companies do for free! )

[Mothernature]

Allow me to add some information that suggests this gas rise is not so temporary as in the past:

-A Healthier Economy Means More Demand: The biggest problem with $4 gas in 2008 was that it coincided with the beginnings of a recession in the U.S. as the mortgage crisis took hold. As the American economy shut down, we saw oil peak at a whopping $147.27 before flopping to $40 a barrel in early 2009. The double edged sword of economic recovery this time around is that sustained spending will add up to sustained oil prices. The bottom won’t be as likely to drop out since the economy is in much better share in the first quarter of 2011 (and beyond) than it was in the first quarter of 2009 after the mayhem of the financial crisis and the failure of GM, AIG, Lehman and others. There will of course be a tipping point, but judging from the stock market’s surge alongside oil in the last several months, we are not near that point yet.

Inflation Continues to Rear Ugly Head: Another weak, and another warning of runaway inflation in the works. Leading central bankers warned again Monday of resurgent inflation in fast-growing emerging economies and warned rising food and energy prices could spread to Europe and North America. Euro zone inflation rose above central bank targets in December, and UK inflation unexpectedly hit a 6-month high. If the steady drumbeat of inflation news continues we can expect the recent surge of crude oil prices (15% in 3 months) to continue.

Crude Oil Prices Rise - 7 Reasons You May See $5 Gas Soon | InvestorPlace

[wrestlegirl]

Allow me to add some information that suggests this gas rise is not so temporary as in the past:

The bottom won’t be as likely to drop out since the economy is in much better share in the first quarter of 2011 (and beyond) than it was in the first quarter of 2009 after the mayhem of the financial crisis and the failure of GM, AIG, Lehman and others. There will of course be a tipping point, but judging from the stock market’s surge alongside oil in the last several months, we are not near that point yet.

WHAAAAAT???? The economy is much better? Is this guy on smack?

The problem with his premise on this point is that he seems to believe that the stock market is a direct reflection of the economy.
It's not - not with HFTs and algorithms running 70% or more of the market.
Algorithms Take Control of Wall Street | Magazine

The stock market = a rigged roulette wheel. It's not a reflection of the economy as a whole. It simply does what those with big money in the market want it to do.

Commodities trading is slightly more realistic in that the CME has a direct effect on the economy itself. Most people in the broader economy don't care if BAC is worth $4 or $44 per share; they do care if wheat is $8.50 per bushel, or if cotton is $137lb.

Inflation Continues to Rear Ugly Head: Another weak, and another warning of runaway inflation in the works. Leading central bankers warned again Monday of resurgent inflation in fast-growing emerging economies and warned rising food and energy prices could spread to Europe and North America. Euro zone inflation rose above central bank targets in December, and UK inflation unexpectedly hit a 6-month high. If the steady drumbeat of inflation news continues we can expect the recent surge of crude oil prices (15% in 3 months) to continue.

Crude Oil Prices Rise - 7 Reasons You May See $5 Gas Soon | InvestorPlace

Yep, we've definitely got inflation in certain items in North America right now.
The CPI (Consumer Price Index) was released today and it shows that energy commodities are up 7.5% in December alone, which is a sickening amount.
Or yesterday's PPI (Producer Price Index) which shows the prices of raw materials including energy and food - up 15.5% on the year, 9% on the quarter. Crude food materials alone are up 6% on the quarter after rising 12.5% the previous quarter.

Meanwhile.....
Housing Market Slips into Depression Territory
Home values have fallen 26% from peak and they're going to continue falling.
Foreclosures to Push Home Prices Down 5% in 2011: RealtyTrac - TheStreet
No inflation there.

And then you've got to stop and look at where inflation matters - the only way you can *really* inflate is to get money into people's hands. I mean, if a widget is priced $1000 and no one has $1000 to spend, they're not going to buy the widget. There's no true inflation on the widget because no one is buying.
You can't have rampant inflation without a corresponding increase in either wages or credit. We had that (in credit) over the past 20 years or so; we don't anymore and wages aren't going anywhere. They're stagnant. Did everyone get a 7% raise in December to cover the increase in energy costs?

So, really, "runaway" inflation in energy can only run so far. If our wages don't keep up, we can't buy gas, and then the oldest rule in economics kicks in: supply and demand. The demand will fall off a cliff at a certain price point and the gas either falls in price or it sits unsold.
The speculators who trade in oil futures know this and they watch for signs of coming price fatigue very carefully. Once the price reaches its apex, they'll simply sell off their oil contracts which causes more people to sell, which trips the trading algos and even more contracts are dumped, and pretty soon oil is $40bbl and the speculators have already parked their money elsewhere.

Those who worry about inflation need to be worrying about stagflation.

So, will gas hit $5gal? It might. For a little while. It won't last long, though, and when it does get up there, be ready for things to start falling apart in other areas of the broader economy. Our own Treasury Secretary thinks it can happen again.
Geithner warns of future government intervention - MarketWatch

[Mothernature]

I, too, thought the author was a bit whacked. When there are 1 million foreclosures and mass lay offs...

Bail outs do not fall under a healthy economy lol.