The Sconi

Even with gas prices across the country continuing to slightly decline, motorists everywhere continue to face the pain born of record high prices.  

According to the Gasoline Misery Index, the national gas average continues to hover at $4.84 a gallon, setting the stage for the average American to be forced to shell out at least $904 more in annualized gas costs. As demand for crude oil continues to decline, current per gallon prices are now 17 cents higher than just a month ago.

With the Gasoline Misery Index tracking how much more (or less) the average American consumer will have to spend on gasoline every year, projections are even more dismal in Wisconsin, where the Index list projections at $1,003 with the average per gallon cost at $4.65.

Researchers arrived at their projections using gas price data from the American Automobile Association (AAA), average fuel efficiency (mpg) data from the U.S. Department of Energy, and average miles driven from MetroMile.com. In addition, the index tracks the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline and adjusts using the average miles traveled by the average miles per gallon of American cars.

As bad as things have been, President Joe Biden warned in a recent press conference the situation could get worse before it significantly gets any better, telling reporters Americans should be prepared to weather high gas prices for "as long as it takes," given the ongoing war still unfolding in Ukraine.

At the same time, AAA reports the Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently announced that gasoline demand has fallen in back-to-back weeks, adding that demand is lower now than it was at this time last year. Researchers added that demand for crude oil continues to fall due to concerns fueled by the lack of economic growth, increasing inflation, and rising interest rates.  

According to EIA, in January 2021 the national average price per gallon of gasoline stood at just $2.33, well over two times less than the national average price of $4.84 per gallon, prompting gasolinemiseryindex.com to refer to the figure as the Biden Misery Index, while pointing out that Americans are now spending an average of $1,318 more per year on gasoline since the president entered office.

Back in June, Biden took to Twitter to call on Congress to suspend the federal gas tax through the summer at a savings of 18 cents per gallon to motorists.

While such savings might not add up to much for some, CNN reports not even that is a done deal, adding the plan does not appear to have much Congressional support and the President may have to strong-arm members of his own party into supporting it, as key Democrat Senators consider the proposal "shortsighted" and "inefficient."