Have you checked the price at the pumps recently? Ouch.

Here in my Los Angeles neighborhood they prices ranged over $3.50 a gallon this weekend which is considerably higher than some areas across the country. Word has it, we ain’t seen nothing yet: 

Gasoline prices were poised Monday to set a new record at the pump, having surged to within half a cent of their record high of $3.227 a gallon. Oil prices, meanwhile, surged to $107, a new inflation-adjusted record and their fifth new high in the last six sessions on an upbeat report on wholesale inventories.

The national average price of a gallon of gas rose 0.7 cent overnight to $3.222 a gallon, 69 cents higher than one year ago, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Last May, prices peaked at $3.227 as surging demand and a string of refinery outages raised concerns about supplies.

That record will likely be left in the dust soon as gas prices accelerate toward levels that could approach $4 a gallon, though most analysts believe prices will peak below that psychologically significant mark. In its last forecast, released last month, the Energy Department said prices will likely peak around $3.40 a gallon this spring; a new forecast is due Tuesday.

 I had to laugh or cry… at the phrasing used in the quote from AP News above “psychologically significant mark.“ When folks worry about money it does tend to put a damper on the happy psyche.

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