Katharina Buczek
The 2022 U.S. cost of living has increased faster than it has in decades– pushing Americans around the country to think long and hard about their routine spending habits.
For Carrie Ann, a single mom of two from Florida, this has meant making all-around budget cuts, clipping coupons, and pulling her girls out of fun extracurricular activities in order to make ends meet.
“However, all of that frugality goes out the window when I get to the gas pump,” Carrie said.
“Every penny I managed to save elsewhere ends up going in the tank to get us where we need to go– school, work, Girl Scout meetings.”
And unfortunately, Carrie is far from alone in her experiences. Aside from the skyrocketing costs of homes, vehicles, and food, the price of gasoline has actually increased 59.9%.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, this is the steepest twelve-month increase since March of 1980.
But, even though Americans’ bank accounts cannot keep up, oil companies have been soaking up the gauge.
In fact, recent second-quarter earnings reports revealed jaw-dropping figures from some of the largest oil and gas companies in the nation.
BP, for example, reported profiting $8.5 billion– its largest take-home sum in fourteen years.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
