Originally Posted by Undecided
There's a difference between wishing that the price of gas/oil going up due to natural market fluctuations and wishing that someone would arbitrarily set the price higher. The only way the latter happens is with onerous government taxes. These days - thats not out of the realm of possibiliy.

You'll still see a rise in price of consumer goods when the price of fuel rises more than temporarily. I've read that our last excursion into $4+ gas was short enough to not affect consumer prices that much (it did) - but if it happened indefinitely you'll be paying the price not only at the pump - but everywhere.


i have no desire to increase the cost of anything, except to spur on invention into "cleaner, renewable sources".

I certainly saw prices increase for everything when gas prices went up. Fuel surcharges, milk, etc.

It also seems to me despite any "deflation" in our current consumer basket that the govt reports.... i have felt large inflation in my personal basket of late. everything from utilities (up 20-30%) to services (dry cleaning, hair cuts, escorts to dogfood (25%) has seemed to have an unusually fast appreciation in costs, at least in my world.