Originally Posted by
Name User
It's not just that - the cost of gas which is up over $0.20 from last month and climbing rapidly acts as a tax on the US working class.
9/10 modern day recessions have been caused by a run up in energy prices. Now to be fair, gas would have to approach $8-$9/gal to be similar to 2007 pricing. But even a move to $4-$5 is psychological and means many will pull spending.
I would postulate that the math might be a bit different in 2026... many vehicles are a lot more fuel efficient than comparable ones in the past. Yes you need to be wealthy-ish to own a Tesla but lower-end hybrids, smaller engines, and other efficiency "features" are now the norm in middle/lower economic demographics.
If the *average" consumer burns less gas, then the system can tolerate more price run-up before consequences manifest.
The folks with jacked up full size king cabs with Hemis are not in that equation... they already made the choice that their car is a hobby/toy, not strictly practical transport.
For clarity, I'm not saying that I *like* oppressive federal mandates, in fact I despise the now-ubiquitous garbage eco-boost engines, but it all does factor into this situation.