U.S. gasoline prices were six cents higher on average than the night before when Americans awoke Friday morning. Since Sunday, United States gasoline costs have spiked 12 cents and the trend is anticipated to continue along with increasing oil prices . A weak United States economic climate can be hard pressed, analysts say, to recover if rising fuel prices negatively impact consumer spending. Post resource - Rising gas prices seen as a setback to recovering U.S. economy by MoneyBlogNewz. The height of gasoline prices The jump in pump costs, the largest one-day increase since 2008, is tied to a surge in oil prices. The highest level of oil price has been hit since Oct 2008 at $98 a barrel Friday and $103 a barrel the day before that. There has been a 10 percent increase in just the last week. States vary due to tax on the Pump prices. Hawaii led the U.S. in gasoline prices with a $3.757 per gallon average. In Wyoming, it was much lower than that. It was at $3.014 a gallon instead. The fuel price increase is expected to continue as it lags behind oil increase typically. Moody's Analytics reports that in just the next few weeks, there can be a rise of up to 37 cents a gallon in the next few weeks in oil costs. Consumer spending lost with higher gas costs Many are expecting that the unrest and demonstrations in Libya might spread throughout the Middle East to several oil-producing nations which means more are willing to buy oil futures causing gasoline and oil prices to go up. Moody's said fuel costs typically rise about 2.5 cents a gallon for every $1 increase in the price of oil. The gas price going up by 1 cent is bad for the economy. That means $1 billion dollars are taken from consumer spending for gas. In 2011, oil prices staying at $90 a barrel would be really bad for the tax cuts that are anticipated to stimulate the economy. The $120 billion tax cut will end up having about a quarter of it spent on gasoline. Spending money on gas does not help the U.S. economy. Generally it goes someplace else. The oil-producing nations that let their people stay poor while they live with riches are the ones to get the money. Information from CNN money.cnn.com/2011/02/25/news/economy/gasoline_prices/index.htm New York Times nytimes.com/2011/02/25/business/economy/25econ.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&src=busln Boston Globe boston.com/business/articles/2011/02/24/rising_oil_prices_could_slow_recovery/
