AUSTIN -- Have that nagging feeling that your paycheck doesn't go as far as it used to?So we have had inflation here already, in everything except the paycheck.
It's not your imagination.
Tarrant County residents pay nearly three-quarters more today to heat and light their homes and fill up their gas tanks than they did at the beginning of the decade, a Star-Telegram analysis has found. At the same time household incomes, while increasing, have not come close to keeping up.
Since 2000, the average monthly electric bill for a typical Fort Worth household using 1,000 kilowatt-hours has jumped from $78.67 to $129.06
The average monthly home heating bill for 6,000 cubic feet of natural gas in Fort Worth has soared more than 67 percent during the same period -- from $42.63 to $71.43.
AAA reports that the price of a gallon of regular gasoline has gone up nearly 77 percent, from $1.43 to $2.63. That means that a typical Fort Worth resident using 47.5 gallons of gas a month now pays $124.93, compared with $67.94 in 2000.
Combined energy costs -- gasoline, home heating and electricity -- for a typical local household have gone up 72 percent.
Calculations based on Census Bureau and Federal Reserve Bank data show that energy costs rose about 2 1/2 times faster than median household income in Tarrant County between 2000 and 2006. The Census Bureau had no data for 2007.
But the oil companies and the government are working on alternative forms of energy to reduce the costs, right? Nope. Of course not.
And in the meantime, the Associated Press this morning chimes in with
Oil Futures Rise to $100 a BarrelSo demand for oil continues to increase, while supply is static or even threatened with being reduced by instability in the oil producing nations. The Euro is rising slightly against the dollar, now costing $1.47 dollars per Euro, so that is also pushing the price of oil in dollars higher.
Wednesday January 2, 2:09 pm ET
Crude Futures Hit Record $100 a Barrel on Supply Concerns After Violence Breaks Out in Nigeria
NEW YORK (AP) -- Crude oil prices soared to $100 a barrel Wednesday for the first time, reaching that milestone amid an unshakeable view that global demand for oil and petroleum products will outstrip supplies.
Surging economies in China and India fed by oil and gasoline have sent prices soaring over the past year, while tensions in oil producing nations like Nigeria and Iran have increasingly made investors nervous and invited speculators to drive prices even higher.
Violence in Nigeria helped give crude the final push over $100. Bands of armed men invaded Port Harcourt, the center of Nigeria's oil industry Tuesday, attacking two police stations and raiding the lobby of a major hotel. Word that several Mexican oil export ports were closed due to rough weather added to the gains, as did a report that OPEC may not be able to meet its share of global oil demand by 2024.
Light, sweet crude for January delivery rose $4.02 to $100 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, according to Brenda Guzman, a Nymex spokeswoman, before slipping back to $99.27.
Oil prices are within the range of inflation-adjusted highs set in early 1980. Depending on how the adjustment is calculated, $38 a barrel then would be worth $96 to $103 or more today.
Increases in the price of oil will feed inflation into the American economy, even as the Recession that we see coming gets deeper.
Don't forget. For Recession the Federal Reserve lowers interest rates, making money easier to get and letting the economy work more. For Inflation, the Fed raises interest rates, making the economy slow down.
No comments:
Post a Comment