$100 Oil Crushes Family Budgets

Sharply escalating oil prices are straining the budgets of America’s middle class, and impoverishing lower-income families. In 2008, 60 million American households with annual incomes below $50,000 will spend 22% of their aftertax income on energy, double the share of income they spent in 1997. The prices of gasoline, natural gas and home heating oil have skyrocketed, propelled by increased oil costs. Among consumer energy products, only electricity has maintained a relatively stable price trend over the past decade.