At those prices, a fill-up is like dumping a dozen or more mocha lattes into your gas tank. Unlike last summer, it seems plausible. And more job losses are expected. Many consumers are already reacting to the price hikes. As more consumers absorb the bad news, the reaction could become far more pronounced.
Consumers are outraged.
People will shield themselves by staying closer to home, says Roger Sinclair, a spokesperson for the American Automobile Association of New York. Auto makers, among others, may suffer. Meanwhile, gasoline inventories rose anywhere from 3 million barrels to 5.1 million barrels in the last week in April, depending on whose estimate is used. John Kilduff, an analyst at Fimat USA, believes they will. States also could step in to give consumers some relief on gas taxes, as some states did last year.