[Frank Lee]

How about you?

Squeeze at the gas pump: Typical family spent more than $4,000 in ‘11, adding to budget stress - The Washington Post

Haven't figured mine yet but it's closer to $400 than $4000.

the typical American household will have spent $4,155 filling up this year, a record. That is 8.4 percent of what the median family takes in, the highest share since 1981.

[...] Gas averaged more than $3.50 a gallon this year, another unfortunate record. And next year isn’t likely to bring relief.

[...] a buck spent on gas has less bang in the economy than, say, a dollar spent at a restaurant. The U.S. is an oil-importing country, so many of the dollars spent on gas ultimately leave the country instead of being invested here in new ventures and jobs.

James Hamilton, an economics professor at the University of California, San Diego, who studies energy prices, estimates that high gasoline prices reduced economic growth by about 0.5 percent for the year — a substantial hit for an economy only growing at an annual rate of about 2 percent.

[...] Hunter Collins ... commutes 40 miles each way to his job in Falmouth. He has started to carpool with a colleague and to take his wife’s more fuel-efficient car to work when it is his turn to drive.

It’s still not enough. He says he’s going to sell his beloved 8-cylinder Dodge Charger. “She’s my baby, but I’m going to have to switch to something more economical,” he says.