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by bumby 1521 days ago
This comment seems wildly out of touch. When a majority of Americans can't afford a $500 unexpected emergency expense[1][2], you think a $100 increase is trivial?

older: [1]https://www.cbsnews.com/news/most-americans-cant-afford-a-50...

pandemic related: [2]https://highlandsolutions.com/blog/survey-reveals-spending-h...

1 comments

The price of gas has doubled in a few months, and yet the roads seem as full of cars as ever. Some demand is effectively inelastic.
It's taken about 6 months to double, and there was about an 8%-10% drop in demand. That drop was from levels that were already substantially depressed from the pandemic.

I'd also wager that changes in demand of gasoline is muted because some people will still need gasoline to get groceries and to work, where irrigating one's lawn is luxury by comparison. When I turn off my irrigation, I see a drop of 60-70% water usage.

https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/weekly/gasoline.php

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=a...

https://ycharts.com/indicators/us_gasoline_station_sales