FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove — Burbank
Back in August, gas was selling at over $4 a gallon and many worried it was going to crack the $5 a gallon mark.
Recently, I heard a radio news announcer say gas prices have “fallen off a cliff.” True, the price of a gallon of gasoline is coming down at the pumps, but they need to keep falling in order to have a real impact on the budgets of most consumers.
On Friday, the average price of regular gas was $2.78 a gallon nationwide. A drop of 53 cents in two weeks, according to the Lundberg Survey. This report says the nosedive in gas prices, which began in mid-July, was prompted by a decline in oil prices.
Well, the prices at local gas stations are not quite as low as the national average in this survey, but they are coming down. The Automobile Club of Southern California says the average price of gas in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area last Friday was $3.22 gallon. Now, that’s about right. Last Wednesday, I filled up in Burbank and paid $3.21 a gallon.
In September, I was paying as much as $3.70 gallon. Back in mid-August, I was shelling out $4.03 a gallon. So, that’s a definite improvement. I’d feel a lot better about gassing up if the price per gallon dropped to $2.50 or so.
Also, now that gas prices are going South, what about food prices? They’re still really high and from what I can tell from my grocery receipts the prices are going up! Also, the prices in restaurants are creeping up as the portions continue to shrink.
Earlier in the year, the steady rise in food prices was blamed on an increase in transportation costs brought on by the jump in gas prices. What I want to know now is when is the cost of food going into a slide? Lower food prices would really help those of us trying to cut expenses — which is just about everyone these days.
