Where is superman when you need him?

Do you know how much the rising cost of gas is taking out of your pocket? Think of it this way. Every penny the price of gas goes up, it takes $6 out of your pocket for each vehicle that is used regularly in your family. That assumes you drive an average of 15,000 miles per year. If you have 2 vehicles, a 10 cent increase in the price of gas will cost your family $120 per year. From May of 2007 until May of 2008, the average cost of gas has risen from $3.14 to $3.81 per gallon. That cost each of us an average of $402 per vehicle.

But wait! It doesn't stop there. You have to consider the impact on the trucking industry. Virtually everything we buy as consumers has transportation costs factored into their price. The American Trucking Association claims that every penny that diesel fuel goes up costs the industry $391 million per year. The price of diesel has risen 49 cents per gallon over the past year. That amounts to $19,159,000,000. I am guessing that the trucking industry has not absorbed that absurd amount of incremental cost.

Any thoughts on where that cost is being paid for? You guessed it. You and I are paying more for almost everything we buy. It may be only a penny here and a nickel there, but I can assure you there are few products that have escaped the clutches of the fuel choke hold. We the people, certainly have not escaped that choke hold. Where is superman when you need him?

Feed the Green Monster...

Every year I pay my good friends at True Green to weed and feed my yard and what do I get? Of course I get a weed free yard. I get a nice green yard. I get a fast growing yard. And... I get to mow twice a week to keep the grass from taking over the neighborhood. Not exactly how I like to spend my leisure time. With the price of gas spiraling out of control, now I'm scraping up all of my spare change, er, I mean, spare dollars, to keep the mower running. That gallon of gas I used to go buy for my Dad when I was a kid that cost a quarter, now is costing me an arm and a leg. Wow! How does that make any sense. And the sad thing is that its not just me. I am sitting here as I blog watching two of my neighbors mow their green monsters. Hey! I have an idea. Maybe we should go together and buy a hybrid mower! Do they make such a thing? That would be the "green" thing to do. Look out Al Gore. Sam Speak is in the yard...