Wrong again! I never thought when they said two months ago that gas would soar to $4.00 a gallon by the end of the year, that they were right. Boy, was I wrong! A month ago I had never paid more than $2.99 and now I have had to pay as high as $3.36.
Bought milk lately? You'd rather buy gas. Per gallon, gas is cheaper, honest. If you guys out there haven't gone grocery shopping lately, don't. It will scare you to death.
So until things improve, where do you think we Americans may cut back? Here's my list of predictions for the next 12 months:
1. Movies - The movies that have been coming out in the last couple of years haven't been stellar to begin with, and at $9 a pop for a ticket, I am betting a lot of people are going to wait in line at the video store.
2. Starbucks - Look out Spinx, you are getting ready to sell some Joe. With prices rising at the pump most people, including the "twentysomethings" are going to have to cut back somewhere.
3. Cable and satellite services - In order to buy essentials some people are going to decide they may not have to have 200 channels they never watch anyway. Look for a run on "basic" services.
4. Ma Bell - She is going to take a whoopin'. Tons of people in their 20's and 30's have already gone completely wireless. Look for their moms and dads to do the same in the next year or two.
5. Truck and SUV sales - At 14 mpg city and 18 mpg hwy, don't look for many of these puppies to sell. I am not sure that even the inevitable rebates we are about to see will be enough to lure consumers into buying them.
6. Restaurants - Americans eat out about as much as they eat in. With fuel costs up people have to cut back somewhere. Look for that trend to reverse itself. And when eating out, people are going to think twice about a $10 hamburger and a $2 soda. Look for more water with lemon. $25-40 a pop for dinner is going to be viewed as half a tank of gas.
7. Cruisin' around - Regina and I have always enjoyed just going out for a ride. "Loafin" is what my grandmother used to call it. Look for people to be more "Purpose Driven," pun intended.
8. Water sports - You might find a pretty good buy in a ski boat right now. With most outboard motors getting about 6 miles per gallon or less, a lot of people are going to pull out the slip and slides instead of the skis this year.
9. Newspapers and magazines - Subscriptions to newspapers are already down to an all time low across the nation. With less expendable income, some people are going to re-think whether or not they need to pay for a paper or magazine that often goes unread, when news can be heard 24/7 now anyway.
10. Liquor, cigarettes - Since all of these pose health risks, are non-essentials and are pretty pricey - you can bet Americans are going to cut these out of their budget. They are gone, baby! Who am I kidding? We'd walk first. Only a sane person would consider cutting these out of their life when other things are needed.
