Why High Gas Prices Should Cause You to Worry

Why high gas prices these days? This is perhaps one of the most commonly heard question as crude oil prices continue its dramatic soar throughout the first half of 2008. Excessive demand coupled with a fixed supply of crude oil has resulted in gas prices soaring to unprecedented limits. This increase in prices has resulted in far reaching effects on the daily lives of the average consumer. In examining the effects of high gas prices, we offer you an insight on why high gas prices should cause you to worry.

The first thing you would notice with high gas prices would be a significant increase in fuel cost for your car. Yes, for the same amount of petrol which you would normally buy at your local gas station, you would now need to pay more. This result in increased cost on your part as travelling becomes an increasingly expensive affair. Indeed, with crude oil prices in excess of $120, travelling to work has never been more expensive. Thus, the immediate result of high crude oil prices would be an increase in cost of car travel.

Yet, the effect of high gas prices is in no way constrained merely to increased cost of travelling. A closer understanding would reveal far reaching consequences.

High gas prices often lead to a general increase in prices of goods and services. This is known as inflation. It is important to note that transport cost has to be factored in with relation to goods and services purchased by the average consumer. For instance, when you buy a new set of furniture, your local furniture store would often provide delivery of your new piece of furniture right up to your doorstep. However, given high gas prices, your furniture store would often have no choice but to pass on the rising cost to you as increased gas prices would mean eating into the store's profits. A similar situation is observed across other industries as suppliers of goods and services pass on higher transportation cost to consumers by marking up prices.

Subsequently, the value of money would be adversely affected given the general inflation caused by the increase on prices of goods and services. This means that the value of every dollar earned has decreased as it can now buy fewer and fewer goods. This provides a disincentive to work as the same amount of wage would now only be able to purchase a smaller amount of goods. This could also spell hardship for the poorest workers as they would be struggling near the level of poverty. Given a long time frame, this could possibly lead to social disturbances and crime.

Rounding things off, it is insufficient to think that high gas prices are only a cause of concern for consumers who drive. The fact is inflation is something very real and would affect all consumers given the increase in gas prices. Furthermore, given such a situation, we would now have to accept a lower real wage as our salary can now buy a lesser amount of goods and services as compared to before. Finally, social disturbances and crime in the long run would affect us in negative ways. Thus, high gas prices are indeed a cause of worry for us.

Lewis Hopewell provides valuable advice on how you can save on high fuel oil prices
Click Here to get his FREE gas saving eBook while it's still available.

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EU Recycling Law to Push Prices on Electrical Goods

The price of electrical goods including TV’s and washing machines looks set to increase following the implementation of a new EU directive on recycling. The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive could stimulate an increase in price of electrical goods of over £500 million per year in the UK. The directive orders the collection and recycling of discarded electrical goods that would otherwise be dumped in landfill sites. The ultimate aim is to reduce the volume of toxic chemicals in the environment with a reduction is harmful chemicals such as lead, mercury and hexavalent chromium if the goods can be reused. Some of the recycled goods will be refurbished and sent to the Third World as part of the scheme.

The directive is aimed at government and local councils rather than individuals but will mean a dramatic change to the way that we discard of consumer electrics. Councils will be expected to handle electrical goods at their recycling centres, with consumers dropping off their unwanted electrics. Although there is no direct requirement on the part of the individual – some councils will charge for the collection of large items such as washing machines pushing the cost of electrical goods up for the average consumer. Some stores will operate a take back scheme for old items when delivering a new item but for the majority this is likely to mean additional costs.

Most electrical goods that are discarded in the UK are still fully functioning, operative goods. Part of the EU’s aim is to increase the life cycle of such goods to limit the number of operative goods going out of circulation and thereby, again, reduce pressure on the environment. The aim to get people thinking about the life cycle of their electrical goods and find alternative methods of disposal does have options. If the cost of disposal is to be avoided, you essentially have to find another home for your unwanted electricals. The use of classifieds to sell unwanted goods is on the rise and resources such as Loot electricals are ideal for not only disposing of your items without paying a fee, but possibly even making a bit of money out of the process.

With lifestyle trends changing and the ongoing pursuit of environmentally friendly policies in Brussels, we could be set to see similar policies emerging from the EU in the months and tears to come. Although this looks, on the surface at least, like a bad deal for consumers the application of a little lateral thinking can reap some benefits. Passing on your unwanted electrical goods – be it to the Third World or to someone down the road in answer to your personal ad, makes sense for the environment and for the life cycle of goods which might be perfectly functional even if they don’t fit with your redesigned kitchen!

Michael Hanna is a keen writer, and internet marketer living in Scotland

E-mail: samqam@googlemail.com
Phone: 0131 561 2251
Michael's Website: Taxis Belfast

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