What are the likely effects of $10 gal. gasoline?

[SGTJP]

What would be the likely effects of $10 a gallon gasoline? Thank you in advance! :hat

[lovinlife4]

I would probably lose my job as I babysit and she is able to work from home already but chooses not to. She would then stay home and I would be back to making nothing. I stay home with our 3 kids until they all start school. Plus, I cannot see many people being able to afford the nonsense of gas that high. Honestly, I don't know anyone who could. My Mom and Dad both are in their mid-50's and work about 20 miles from home. They make good money (engineer and nurse) That would really hurt them.

[Amanda's mom]

Since diesel has become more expensive than gas, I would assume your hypothetical would include diesel at $11. Given that and our current infrastructure and methodology for living...

Food prices will skyrocket. The poor and those on fixed incomes will suffer the most because they will not be able to afford to eat. Farmers will not be able to afford the fuel they need to run their machinery. Independent truckers will exist no more because they will not be able to afford the diesel to run their trucks.

I see the government taking over all fuel sources and parceling them out to critical areas...the military, farmers, food/material transport. Rail systems will become critical as they will be seen as the better mode of food transport. Truckers will move from interstate to intracity transport - moving food from train depots to dispersement centers (whether they be local markets or government run centers). Hospitals will be next. Those who live in rural areas will have an advantage if they know how to garden because they can raise a lot of their own food and preserve it. Urban dwellers will have the harder time. It will be easier for any garden produce to be stolen and they will have limited space for putting one in.

People will have a hard time finding their way to work each day because they won't make enough salary to pay for the gas they need to get to work. This brings about several scenarios...people move within walking distance of their jobs (not realistic given the way cities are built and current real estate market and would take months if not years to accomplish), people will work from home (would work for some but not most - think teachers, hospital personnel, etc), people will find work within walking distance of their homes (not realistic in current society), employers move to a 4-day 10-hour work week (would help but minimally), mass transit will be used more (I don't see the mass transit systems as able to handle a sudden mass influx of riders at this point and even still their prices will increase), people will not be able to work because they will have no way to get there.

Anything that is made as a by-product of pretoleum will also skyrocket in price. Think about the number of things that we use everyday that is some form of plastic (a substance made from petroleum by-products). Remember the commercial on tv about what would happen if plastics were no longer in use? We would need to go back to natural materials for furnishings and fibers. I don't think our sheep/goat industry is capable of producing enough fiber for the clothing that we would need let alone anything else.

It just goes on and on.

[firstoftwelve]

I wonder, would be become like Japan where you live where you work?

Would more wives stay home to be with the kids, but husbands just stay over at the office Mon - through Fri?

[chel0524]

First thing we would have to do would be cut satellite and the phone service. Then drop back to only one vehicle. We live about 10 miles from where we work and my DH goes in at 5 and I don't go in until 8. I guess we'd have to figure out something so that we could ride in together.

Schools would probably have to stop bussing kids or maybe drop to 4 days a week.

[Legacy]

Oh wow... you really want to know? A mess in this country like has NEVER been seen. You'll see starvation, mass homelessness, crime we probably can't even imagine (especially gangs taking over), schools shutting down, government totally taking over to "control the crowds"--including owning the transportation industry (trucking, for sure), taking land/homes, and owning all food supplies--and daily deaths like never seen (in this country).

Seems rather negative, but I don't see the majority being able to adapt. Gas/diesel rising only $2 has caused a lot of people to go to extremes and put people in a serious bind financially. If it rose another $6, I don't see how people will survive...UNLESS wages went up to keep up...which I don't see either.

The mess this country is in can only be corrected by the Good Lord. Is it in His will to do that though?:thinking My hope and prayer is that we'll be raptured before then, but if not--we can all be good witnesses and fight the good fight.

Just my 2 cents worth...

[Southern Grace]

Agree. I drive 25 miles to work one way which is 50 miles per day. My auto gets 17mpg. I could not afford to drive to work much less buy the groceries! And yes with the price of diesel, EVERTHING will go up due to the transportation charges.

In some cities people are using the subway, the bus, bicycles, etc. That would be great but our cities here in Oklahoma do not have subways. Also I live in the rural area. There are not buses out here.

So I think there would be a complete collapse! If you can't work, you can't pay your mortgage or utilities. Then everyone would be homeless!
Of course that would be the perfect time for the AC to come in and make everything okie dokie! :thumb

[Goldie]

The price of small cars will skyrocket, but you won`t be able to give the big SUV`s away.

Auto insurance will jack up, due to profit loss from the reduction in the # of cars on the road.

Government services will drop, due to the lack of resources - senior food and transportation programs, home health care and child-care payments, and the voucher programs.

Fast-food restaurants will be closing in droves, as will many grocery and department stores.

People who have them may wind up living in those big SUV`s, as they canot pay their mortgage or rent.

I could go on and on, but I have a headache. :cry

[SGTJP]

If I'm reading everyone's postings correctly...then I'm seeing a Economic Depression happening in this scenario! I pray this never happens, but I think it's prudent to discuss such hypo's to help each other understand and try to prepare...I know the Lord while make a way for His Church, but we may live to see some very hard times! :preach

[Jubilee21]

It's a pretty frightening picture indeed..

one of stations, think it was ABC the other night approached that scenario with running clips from Mel Gibson's Mad Max movies, and sarcastically said we were on the way..but it was far, far down the road.

IMH0, if you run the numbers on this an average household with one vehicle would be looking at a minimum of $11,000. of net income needed to drive just one vehicle @ 20 miles to the gal. or the equivalent of $15,000.00 additional GROSS income.

This is the equivalent of working full time at 3% above minimum wage.

If there were two vehicles in use for work so lets say a couple could generate $75,0000.00 annually..in this scenario at their tax bracket would probably need in the vicinity of $33,000.00 of their annual gross income to cover their travel to work alone if the had a 20-25 mile commute one way, averaged above 22 miles to the gal

As Amanda's Mom pointed out..this is before factoring in the rise in cost for products affected by diesel at every point along the manufacturing and delivery system on top of all of this..

Double the cost of gas by net or gross on an annual basis to get an idea of what the increase would refelct in for, heating, clothing, etc in someones household budget and I would say $10.00 a gallon would probably "nuke" any individual or couple who was not generating a mimimum of $95.000.00 of annual groos income..and these folks would probably have to live on a lifestyle of someone earning below $25,000 annually in todays terms , a poverty level line.

Hard to imagine that $100,000.00 year would equate with poverty level in terms of small family of 4 ,but it would.

if it has been requiring to married folks to earn $35.000.00 a year and have seperate cars to travel 20-25 miles to work one way or more to afford their "lives" and perhaps a $1200/mo house payment...

It's not too hard to see this progression at the end of it when gas reaches $10.00 a gal..but IMHO ,I don't know if we even have to get above $7.00 a gallon to see the equivalent happen:idunno