Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Sound the alarm! Gas prices are going up!
Throughout my life, I’ve noticed a certain obsession Americans have with gas prices. I used to tease my father for driving out of his way just to save a couple of cents on a gallon of gas. I told him that he probably spent more money (and time) driving across town to the cheaper gas station than he saved at the pump, but he was unwavering in his search for the cheapest gas possible.
To this day, I know guys who can make an entire conversation out of the price of gasoline. The media don’t help, showing us signs of east- or west-coast prices that are considerably higher than the flyover states in between, so we wring our hands in worry over an extra dollar or two at the pump.
That said, there are actually legitimate reasons to watch the prices at the pump. Simple math tells us that the more we pay in gasoline, the less we have for purchasing other things, like a drink or a snack for the road, and that has a ripple effect on retail sales.
Plus, rising gas prices are inflationary. Higher gas prices make the transporting of goods more expensive, and that drives up prices.
Nevertheless, I wouldn’t blame gasoline prices for the inflation we’re experiencing now. COVID and the stay-at-home working conditions it spawned, along with the so-called “great resignation” of workers no longer willing to work for low wages at a job that offers no benefits or future, coupled with the infusions of federal cash into business bailouts and people’s pockets over the past two years, has created an economy that’s both growing and inflating.
Today’s economy is coming back to life in a new reality that includes pandemic cautions and precautions instead of lockdowns and closures. Wages have gone up — what Congress couldn’t do with a minimum wage hike, the market itself did through workforce supply and demand — while greater flexibility is being built into jobs. Remote options and four-day work weeks are reshaping the modern-day workplace.
Also factoring into our economic future are President Biden’s infrastructure legislation, signed into law last month, and his Build Back Better bill, still pending in the Senate. Both will push the nation toward a greener new economy, and that’s already starting to raise the ire of right-wing reactionaries.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s recent comment that families who buy electric vehicles (EVs) will “never have to worry about gas prices again” brought on laughable outrage from conservative pundits, as if he’s attacking some sort of sacred cow in our psyche.
Beyond such an absurdity, Buttigieg’s comment does raise an interesting question about how much EV owners will have to pay to recharge their vehicle. The website nerdwallet.com estimated in September that the cost of recharging a car costs the equivalent of about $2 per gallon — far less than the current average price of $3.36 for a gallon of gas (according to AAA).
So, using the above data points, if your pickup carries a 26-gallon tank — the size of a 2021 F-150 tank, according to Edmonds — that’ll cost you roughly $52 to fully charge your vehicle; to fill ‘er up with a tank of gas would cost $87.36.
That’s quite a savings, but don’t worry, pump-watchers, electricity prices will fluctuate too — enough to make driving across town for a cheaper recharge possible, so the dads of the world will still have something to do.
Tom McDonald is editor of the New Mexico Community News Exchange. Contact him at: