[THEHILL] Trips to the gasoline pump in 2012 and 2008 took their biggest share of U.S. household income in several decades, according to the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA).Keep telling us the U.S. has a 1.7 percent inflation rate. We like consuming BS. We believe everything the govt tells us.
The Energy Department's statistical arm reported Monday that the average household spent $2,912 for gasoline in 2012, which makes up almost 4 percent of pre-tax income, tying 2008 for the highest percentage in roughly 30 years.
Pump prices took center stage in White House races in 2008 and 2012, but gasoline expenditures as a share of household income remain lower they did than the early 1980s, when they were above 5 percent.
Prices last year were elevated enough to push the share of household spending to the highest level in decades even though overall gasoline consumption has been declining for years.