Rodent Regatta

With some rounding error and allowance for 87, 89 or 93 octane ratings, gasoline costs approximately $2.10 per gallon with oil currently priced at about $38.50 per barrel. Is it reasonable to assume that $100 oil will lead to gasoline at $5.45 a gallon?

If those numbers are even close, the two-car family driving each vehicle 15,000 miles per year and getting 18 miles per gallon will see their gasoline budget change from $3500 to $9083 each year.

Let this escalate at the same time that interest rates on adjustable mortgages are ramping up, and you’ll begin to see an impact on the economy unlike any we’ve seen in our lifetimes.

This isn’t a forecast, but it’s clearly a set of conditions that could unfold rather easily. An individual’s best solution to these kinds of challenges will be to work at something you enjoy with the potential for increasing your income at a pace that is comparable to rapid jumps in the cost of living.