Soaring Gas Prices Digs Deep into Family Budgets

Beloit native Laurie Schreiber is checking grocery ads much more closely these days for the best bargains. South Beloit resident Anthony Range has changed his driving habits and rarely fills his truck’s gas tank.

Beloit Clark service station owner Raj Patel hears first hand how high gas
prices are and how they are impacting everyday people at the pump and elsewhere.

“It’s extremely high right now and the trend is to keep going higher,” Range said, as he put gas in his truck at the Beloit Clark station on Broad Street. “There’s no more joy driving. It’s just from point A to point B. You’ve got the gas prices combined with the food and utility prices and we need help.”

The far-reaching effects of rising gas prices are becoming clear across the Stateline Area as residents dig deeper into their pockets to pay for their everyday needs, including gas.

To further Range’s point about high food prices, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics, the price of food rose 3.6 percent in February, the largest single month increase in 34 years. A good portion of that increase can be attributed to gas prices which now sit about $1 higher than this time last year

The average person or family is paying $1,100 more annually for gas based on today’s gas prices and fuel use of 1,100 gallons of gas per year, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. And businesses are in no way escaping the pain at the pump.

For some perspective on how high gas prices are and what their impact is, last year at this time the average price of a gallon of gas was $2.88 in Wisconsin. As of Wednesday, it was $3.97, $3.87 nationally and over $4 a gallon in Illinois. A month ago, it was $3.58, according to Pam Moen, spokesperson for Wisconsin’s AAA Madison office.

http://www.beloitdailynews.com/articles/2011/04/29/news/local_news/news2901.txt

Consumer's Are Feeling the Pinch

(AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are paying more for food and gas, a trend that threatens to slow the economy at a crucial time.
So far, the spike in such necessities hasn't stopped businesses from stepping up hiring or slowed factory production, which rose in March for the ninth straight month. Still, higher gas prices have led some economists to lower their forecasts for growth for the January-March quarter...

Consumer prices rose 0.5 percent last month, the Labor Department said Friday. Nearly all of the gains came from pricier gas and food...

But most of the extra $1,000 to $2,000 per person is filling the gas tank. The national average for a gallon was $3.82 on Friday — nearly $1 more than a year ago. In five states, the average price is exceeding $4 a gallon...

Rising inflation will likely cut consumer spending growth to half its pace in the previous quarter....

Oil has soared 28 percent to about $109 a barrel since Middle East turmoil spread to Libya in mid-February. If unrest stops spreading and Americans buy less fuel, oil and gas prices could decline...

Joe Olivo, who owns Perfect Printing Inc., based in Moorestown, N.J., says his suppliers are raising the cost of ink and other items 10 percent this month, the biggest monthly increase he can remember in the 23 years he's been in business. He's also paying more for shipping due to fuel surcharges. But so far, he estimates he can only pass on about a third of the higher costs to his clients. Suppliers "are hinting that there may be more (price increases) down the road," he said. "That's really my big concern."

AP Business Writers Anne D'Innocenzio in New York and Daniel Wagner contributed from Washington to this report...

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