Gas - Wish it was as cheap as in the US

I hear that gas is topping $4 a gallon now in the US. If only we had it so good here. Yesterday a colleague spent $121 to fill up at the pump... translation: $7.20 a gallon!!

And we don't have the worst of it. It's all over CNN right now how bad prices are here in Europe, so much so that people are beginning to strike in various countries. These prices are also hitting us at the local markets where several months of record inflation is now being compounded by exponentially rising shipping costs.

All this makes me almost nostalgic now for that day in '04 in Southern California where stared in stunned silence and shock in a gas station parking lot when faced with having to pay $2.82 price per gallon (see pic). Heck, even the "2" on the price was quaking in it's space! In Northern California we were still paying around $2.12 a gallon. Sigh... I still remember the days before the Gulf War when we were paying less than $1 a gallon... or even further back in the 70's when even with the long lines at the pump and only being able to get gas on certain days (according to your license plate number) the price was only about $0.30 a gallon. All that seems like a dream now.

For those who are in the US now paying only $4 a gallon, please count your blessings. And also remember that GCF dollars are affected as well.... factor in the falling dollar ($1=€0.64), rising inflation and shipping costs, our budgets and personal funds do not go as far as they once did. (And that's not even mentioning that our budget is potentially being cut by 40% for next year... but that's another story.)

Yet I can't help to put all of this into further perspective... into that of the local. We foreigners do feel the pinch, but the local population feels this even more keenly. Of the 60-70% of the population that actually have a job, the average salary is about $300 a month. Many locals are lamenting how much less what little they make buys...

Examples: A small bottle of water that used to cost $0.50 now costs $0.60... milk that used to cost $1 now costs $1.07... bread that used to cost $0.64 now costs $0.77... even utilities have increased an average of $10 a month...

Most items across the board have gone up between 1-5 denars (or 2 to 13 cents) which may not seem like much but when added together makes a bigger hole in an already ripped pocket.

You know, I want to end by saying something clever and insightful, but there is truly nothing to say. It's a very stark reality that we're all facing... yet we can pray and rest in the One who can provide for all our needs.