Gas prices continue to rise and there is no telling how high they will go. Even worse, there is nothing to indicate that gas prices will ever return to the high amount we were paying just a year ago. Higher gas prices not only affect us when we fill up our tank, they also affect other aspects of our finances. Everything that we buy is shipped, the higher prices for shipping will eventually mean higher prices for everything. Then there is the effect on government, from the federal down to the smallest municipality. Police cars, fire trucks, school buses, and basically everything that runs on gas increases the operating costs for all budgets. The revenue needed to cover these increased costs will have to come from somewhere, or I should say someone. Of course we must not forget the increased cost to our military, which becomes even larger since we are at war. Again, more tax dollars will eventually be needed to pay for the increased costs. The higher prices will also affect public transportation, which will again result in somebody paying for the increases. Basically, anything that requires gasoline is going to cost more and will eventually require that somebody pay for it.

Behind the rise in gas prices is the rising cost of oil. Unfortunately, oil is not only used for gasoline, but for many other things. We must also consider the increased cost of things made from oil, from roofing to sunglasses. The higher oil prices will eventually increase the cost of these many products, which again will have to be paid for by somebody. These products come with a double whammy of increased production costs plus the added cost to ship them. There can be no denying that the rapid increase of oil prices is putting a strain on our finances, both public and private.

In order to solve this problem we must either decrease demand or increase supply. With the growing global economy it is unlikely that demand will decrease or enough supply could be created to lower prices, at least in the near future. It is probably going to take a technological revolution to solve this problem through supply and demand. Again, this doesn't appear to be coming in the near future. There is, however, something that could be done in the near future that would ease the financial burden. I've written about it before, but here it is again, find a way to bring about a dramatic increase in income for those in the middle and at the bottom. If everybody was making good money, these prices wouldn't be a problem. Also, the increased income would add additional tax revenue to government budgets, reducing the strain of higher costs. This would also be good for our consumer driven economy as people would have more money to buy more stuff. I really don't see any other solutions, the price of oil isn't going to decline enough to help our economy, so we must find a way for people to be able to afford everything it affects.