Philip Nelson

What would $10 per gallon of gas do to the “average” American?

Before you read this post.. Be warned.. i’m not posting scientifically researched facts.. Just a simple commentary on how much $10/gal gas would strain the minimum wage worker using info that I’ve gathered through google searches.

Average gas mileage for vehicles in America is 17 MPG.
Source Wiki.Answers.com

Average commute for American worker 16 miles (26 minutes) one way.
Source ABC News

At $10/gallon of gas that is about 59 cent/mile..Round trip to work each day is right at $18.88 (Not including cost of car, maintenance, etc)

US Minimum wage – $6.55/hour (Before Taxes).. $52.40/day (Before Taxes)

Average American pays 30.8 percent in taxes.. leaving them with $26.26 per day after taxes..

Subtract the $18.88 for gas, the minimum wage worker is left with a whopping $7.38 per day to pay for food, housing, clothing, entertainment, heath care, etc…

At what point is it more profitible for a person to stay at home and collect unemployment than to spend almost 2/3 of their income paying for gas? When the lowest paid workers stay home, what happens to the US economy?

I hate to say it but we should really take a hard look at our current lifestyles and think about how our behavior would change in the the event of $10 gas.. After we do a thorough self evaluation, we should start implementing changes now and be ready for $10 gas, not if it arrives but when it arrives.