Full Tanks Put Squeeze on Working Class - New York Times: "'If you're poor, you're forced to make choices,' said Stephen Cecchetti, a professor of economics at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass. 'All of a sudden, when the price of something that you can't give up skyrockets, you still have to go from one place to another.'When I lived in Los Angeles I survived quite well on public transportation. I had music, headphones, a book and a regular route. I wish we had better public transportation in San Jose, but nobody thinks it is important. They keep cutting back the bus routes and the Light Rail is a joke. A really bad one at that.
The increase in gas prices comes at a time when many Americans of modest means are already finding themselves squeezed by increased insurance costs, wages that have not kept pace with inflation, and the rising pressure of adjustable rate mortgages. The latest New York Times/CBS News poll showed that 63 percent of respondents had cut back on their driving because of the gas price increase, and 56 percent had cut back on other household spending. Nearly half said they expected to change their summer vacation plans as a result.
Aline Lacombe, who travels from Palm Beach County to her job as a legal assistant at the Justice Department in downtown Miami, has stopped driving altogether. As a result, her commute now includes two train rides and a shuttle, and takes close to two hours each way, at least twice what it used to."
Of course, if the price keeps going up, mom could lose her job and she would be bored and I would be even more stressed. All because of the price of gas. Too bad we aren't a corporation, those and the rich are the only ones getting ahead in these trying times.
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