You Think Gas Prices Are High Now? It's Only Getting Worse

Written By BlabberBuzz | Friday, 21 January 2022 10:50 AM
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You Think Gas Prices Are High Now? It's Only Getting Worse

Drivers in the United States have been warned to expect "real pain" at the pump as a surge in spring travel combines with growing inflation to push gas prices for regular unleaded to more than $4 a gallon.

According to the American Automobile Association, the nationwide average is currently $3.314 a gallon. California has the highest-priced gas at $4.650, while Texas has the lowest at $2.942. In New York state, it is now $3.39.

On Tuesday, Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum at GasBuddy, announced that all Americans may soon be facing California-level costs.

"We'll start to see gasoline demand surge, along with refiners doing maintenance ahead of the summer driving season, creating a squeeze," De Haan told Fox Business, predicting that the spike would start in March.

De Haan projected that there may be a growth of 10 to 20 cents per gallon every month until May, when the national average could hit or even exceed $4 a gallon.

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Earlier this month, GasBuddy projected that the national average price for a gallon of gasoline could even climb to a high of $4.13 in June.

And California cities could see prices climb even higher, with costs in San Francisco and Sacramento growing to more than $5 a gallon.

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He announced prices would probably fall after a "hot start to the summer," with costs dropping to just below $3 per gallon by the 2022 holiday season.

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The news comes as inflation is at the highest level in almost 40 years.

The Labor Department announced on January 12 that the consumer price index has risen 7 percent over the last year.

The index grew 0.5 percent last month, after surging 0.8 percent in November.

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President Joe Biden, buffeted by denunciation over his handling of the economy, tried to highlight that slowing rate of growth as an achievement.

The increase pushed annual inflation to 7 percent in December, which is the highest level since June 1982, and up from November's 6.8 percent annual rate.

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In a statement, Biden called inflation "a global challenge" and alleged the latest numbers were good news, revealing the monthly rate of price increases slowed in December from the previous month.

"Today's report—which shows a meaningful reduction in headline inflation over last month, with gas prices and food prices falling—demonstrates that we are making progress in slowing the rate of price increases," Biden announced.

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Nationwide, gas prices did fall 2.2 percent in December from the last month, yet stayed 50 percent higher than a year ago.

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Food prices were up 0.5 percent on the month and 6.3 percent higher than a year ago, making it unclear what falling food prices Biden was referring to.

"At the same time, this report underscores that we still have more work to do, with price increases still too high and squeezing family budgets," Biden confessed.

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