Q: The cost of gasoline didn't bother me nearly as much until I realized that if you have a vehicle that gets 20 mpg, and the cost of gas is $4 a gallon, every five miles you drive is a buck! And that is just the fuel cost. That is a real shock to me and makes me sick to think I am throwing a dollar out the window every five miles.
guess handbagsTony Yarosky
San Jose
A: There are a couple of ways you can lower that cost -- and the first is to enter Roadshow's contest to win a free tank of gas. Monday is the deadline to guess what the state average for regular gas will be on April 1. The winner gets a free fill-up courtesy of me. Several hundred entries have flowed in, with guesses ranging from under $2 to almost $5 a gallon.
womens summer fashion 2011 trends But there's another way to beat the cost: Slow down. Vehicles lose roughly 1 percent in fuel economy for every mile per hour driven above 55. The state AAA estimates that the average driver covers 15,000 miles a year. At 55 mph in a car that gets 30 mpg at that speed, that person would spend around $1,950 annually for gas at $4 a gallon. At 65 mph, mileage drops to 27 mpg and the cost jumps to more than $2,100 for gas. At 75 mph, you're down to 23 mpg and paying about $2,400.
Another tip: You can gain 4 mpg by keeping your car tuned up and tires inflated.
Q: The big problem I have with the price of gas is how guess handbags outlet fast it goes up and why the same rule doesn't apply when the price goes down. Why does it take twice as long for prices to fall? I tried to call after a recent gas story you wrote, but your voice mail was full. No surprise after that article.
Rich Rathe
Union City
A: Here's one reason. When prices spiral almost out of control like they are now, the local owner who is paying more to get fuel into his underground tanks often sees his profit margin fall dramatically, down to a few cents a gallon, if that. To make up for that drop in revenue, some will slowly lower prices when their costs go down.
Q: Yipes! The price of gas is shocking. But no need to give up Sunday drives. I take one every Sunday unless it's raining, and I'll bet that I am getting better mileage than even your new plug-in hybrid, too! The answer is a bicycle. Potentially hundreds of miles on a few drops of oil and smear grease. Please tell your readers to get out and enjoy the local attractions this spring. You don't have to go far, and even a novice rider can make it a few miles for a coffee or a sandwich at a local deli. It's a whole different perspective and quite fun. You get to know your local area so much better, too, and maybe even meet more neighbors.
Gary Weeks
Los Altos
A: You save on gas, and maybe shed a few pounds as well. Now that's a win-win.
Q: In order to save gas, I used to take the car out of gear and coast downhill when I lived up on Summit Road at the top of the Santa Cruz Mountains. A CHP officer pulled me over and warned me and that was all it took to change that behavior.
Craig
The U.N. Security Council resolution was power balanceapproved late Thursday with the backing of the United States, France and Britain, hours after Gadhafi vowed to launch a final assault and crush the nearly 5-week-old rebellion against him.
President Barack Obama telephoned the leaders of Britain and France after the vote, the White House said. U.S. officials speaking after a closed-door briefing in Congress said the attempt to ground Gadhafi's air force could begin by Sunday or Monday with the use of jet fighters, bombers and surveillance aircraft.
Military experts cautioned that the consequences of such action are unpredictable. The former head of the British army, Richard Dannatt, said it was crucial to proceed cautiously "so we don't get into the kind of situation that we got into in Iraq by not having a Plan B for the morning after."
But the Western powers mostly faced calls for urgency after weeks spent deliberation over what to do about Gadhafi as his regime gained momentum.
Gadhafi, calling in to Libyan television on Thursday, said his forces would "rescue" the people of Benghazi, the eastern Mediterranean port city that has become the de-facto rebel capital and staging ground. For those who resist, Gadhafi said, there would be "no mercy or compassion."
"This is your happy day, we will destroy your enemies," he said, warning the people of Benghazi not to stand alongside the opposition. "Prepare for this moment to get rid of the traitors. Tomorrow we will show the world, to see if the city is one of traitors or heroes."
Gadhafi also pledged to respond harshly to U.N.-sponsored attacks in an interview with Portuguese summer fashion trendstelevision broadcast just before the vote. "If the world is crazy," he said, "we will be crazy, too."
His ground forces were about 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of the city on Thursday evening, so it was unclear whether they would move on the city as quickly as he suggested.
A large crowd in Benghazi was watching the vote on an outdoor TV projection and burst into cheers, with green and red fireworks exploding overhead. In Tobruk, east of Benghazi, happy Libyans fired weapons in the air to celebrate the vote.
Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim struck a more conciliatory tone, offering to negotiate a cease-fire with the rebels. He welcomed the Security Council's concern for the people of Libya but called on the world not to allow them to receive weapons. "If any countries do that, they will be inviting Libyans to kill each other," he said.
In Tripoli on Friday, foreign journalists were barred from leaving their hotel.
The shift toward international action reflected dramatic change on the ground in Libya in the past week. The rebels, once confident, found themselves in danger of being crushed by an overpowering pro-Gadhafi force using rockets, artillery, tanks, warplanes. That force has advanced along the Mediterranean coast aiming to recapture the rebel-held eastern half of Libya.
Gadhafi troops encircled the city of Ajdabiya, the first in the path of their march, but also had some troops positioned beyond it toward Benghazi.
Another witness, medical official Qassem al-Shibli, told the AP that he saw three planes attack the airport and nearby rebel military camps before two were shot down. A third witness saw fire trucks fighting a blaze at the airport, and black smoke billowing from the area. Another witness reported that a rebel warplane crashed north of Benghazi, apparently after running out of fuel.
At the same time, the rebels were sending their own warplanes in an attempt to break the regime's assault on Ajdabiya, a city about 100 miles guess handbagssouthwest of Benghazi that has been under a punishing siege by Gadhafi's forces the past two days. But by Thursday afternoon, Gadhafi's army were holding the southern, eastern and western outskirts of Ajdabiya.
The unrest in Libya began Feb. 15 in the eastern city of Benghazi and spread east to Tripoli, the capital. Like others in the Mideast, the protest started with popular demonstrations against Gadhafi, rejecting his four decades of despotic and often brutal rule. The tone quickly changed after Gadhafi's security in Tripoli forcefully put down the gatherings there.
Back in the '80's, the money people made guess handbagstypically more than made up for high inflation. In 1981, banks would pay nearly 16 percent on a six-month CD. And workers typically got pay raises to match their higher living costs.
No more.
Over the 12 months that ended in February, consumer prices increased just 2.1 percent. Yet wages for many people have risen even less — if they're not actually frozen.
Social Security recipients have gone two straight years with no increase in benefits. Money market rates? You need a magnifying glass to find them.
That's why even moderate inflation hurts more now. And it's why if food and gas prices lift inflation even slightly above current rates, consumer spending could weaken and slow the economy.
Consumer inflation did pick up in February, rising 0.5 percent, because of costlier food and gas. Still, womens summer fashion 2011 looked at over the past 12 months, price increases have remained low. Problem is, these days any inflation tends to hurt.
Not that everyone has been squeezed the same. It depends on personal circumstances. Some families with low expenses or generous pay increases have been little affected.
Others who are heavy users of items whose prices have jumped — tuition, medical care, gasoline — have been hurt badly. But almost everyone is being pinched because nationally, income has stagnated.
The median U.S. inflation-adjusted household income — wages and investment income — fell to $49,777 in 2009, the most recent year for which figures are available, the Census Bureau says. That was 0.7 percent less than in 2008.
Significant pay raises are rare during periods of high unemployment because workers have little bargaining power to demand them.
They surely aren't making it up at the bank. Last year, the average nationwide rate on a six-month CD was 0.44 percent. The rate on a money market account was even lower: 0.21 percent.
Now go back three decades, a time of galloping inflation, interest rates and bond yields. When Paul Volcker took over the Federal Reserve in 1979, consumer inflation was 13.3 percent, the highest since 1946. To shrink inflation, Volcker raised interest rates to levels not seen since the Civil War.
As interest rates soared, CD and money-market rates did, too. The average rate on money market accounts topped 9 percent. Treasury yields surged, pushing up rates on consumer and business loans. The 10-year Treasury note yielded more than 13 percent; today, it's 3.5 percent.
By 1984, consumers were enjoying a sweet spot: Lower prices but rising incomes and still-historically high rates on CDs and other savings investments. Consumer inflation had slid to 3.9 percent. Yet you could still get 10.7 percent on a six-month CD.
Even after accounting for inflation, the median income rose 3.1 percent from 1983 to 1984. At the time, workers were demanding — and receiving — higher wages.
More than 20 percent of U.S. workers belonged to a union in 1983. Labor contracts typically provided cost-of-living adjustments tied to inflation. And competition for workers meant those union pay increases helped push up income for non-union workers, too.
Last year, just 12 percent of U.S. workers belonged to unions. And among union members, a majority now work for the government, not private companies. Wages of government workers are under assault as state governments and the federal government seek to cut spending and narrow gaping budget deficits.
Workers' average weekly wages, adjusted for inflation, fell in February to $351.89. It was the third drop in four months.
Kellogg, which makes Frosted Flakes and Pop Tarts, is increasing prices power balanceon some products to offset costlier ingredients. Kellogg is responding to soaring costs for commodities including wheat, corn, sugar, cotton, beef and pork.
Vickens Moscova, a self-employed marketer in Elizabeth, N.J., says he's paying more for staples like cereal, bread, eggs and public transportation. Yet he's making little from his savings.
"It is a huge pinch," says Moscova, 25.
Though higher gasoline and food prices may lift the inflation rate in coming months, the Fed says it doesn't think inflation will pose a long-term threat to the economy. The central bank projects that inflation won't exceed 1.7 percent this year.
But if oil prices, now around $101 a barrel, were to go much higher, economists say heavier fuel bills would cause people and consumers to cut back spending on cars, appliances and other items.
Another recession would be possible if prices began to approach $150 a barrel. Back in 1983, a barrel of oil cost just $29.40 — or $65 in today's prices, adjusted for inflation.
The struggles their famine-worn ancestors faced as new arrivals — the slurs from their neighbors, the "Irish need not apply" signs — still echo through the generations, as does the avid union support that helped lift them to positions of power, influence and ultimately acceptance.
"Union jobs, civil service jobs have always been the ladder out of poverty for working people in this country," said Patrick J. Lynch, leader of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, the union that represents New York police. "The faces may have changed. The countries they're coming from may have changed. But the ladder is the same."
In Wisconsin, Ohio and elsewhere, public workers face threats to collective bargaining rights, and pulsera power balanceIrish-American legislators backing the proposals are being accused of betraying their heritage. In the nation's largest city, the fond subject of songs such as "When New York was Irish," a tight budget has led to a battle over municipal pensions.
Remembering Irish-American labor struggles is "especially important this year when unionism is under attack across the country," Lynch said.
While many Chinese immigrants laid train tracks from the West Coast, it was largely Irish immigrants who laid them from the East. Many Irish immigrants went to work in the mines of the South. And in New York, they joined the police force and firefighters in great numbers, said Peter Filardo, an archivist at the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives.
So many Irish-Americans once worked in the city's transit system, the joke went, that the IRT subway line was known as "Irish Rapid Transit." Irish-American workers were key in the rise of powerful political machines in the 19th and early 20th centuries. AFL-CIO presidents have included names like George Meany, Thomas Donahue and John Sweeney.
"We have gained our place through labor activism and political activism all across the United States," said John Kilbane, a native of Ireland and business manager of the Laborers' Local 310 in Cleveland.
"The old adage goes, 'A rising tide floats every boat,'" Kilbane said. "If collective bargaining is attacked and collective bargaining rights are weakened, or lessened or obliterated, it certainly is the beginning of a race to the bottom economically, not only for union people but for those who are not fortunate enough to be represented by a union."
In Dublin, Ohio, state Rep. John Carney said people at a St. Patrick's
As thousands of protesters swarmed the Capitol, the brothers were accused of betraying their heritage. One protest sign read: "Fitzgerald isn't Irish."
Some Irish-Americans say their heritage is irrelevant when it comes to labor activism and politics, especially because they and their ancestors are now thoroughly integrated in American society. womens summer fashion 2011
Jim Cavanaugh, president of the South Central Federation of Labor, which helped organize opposition to the Wisconsin bill, noted that Irish families have been in Wisconsin for generations. He said he would give his perspective only as an American, not an Irish-American.
"What's going on in this state right now is not like anything any of us alive today have seen before," he said. "It's very different and more dynamic."
New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, an Irish-American, hasn't forgotten answering the phone as a girl and hearing a young voice hurriedly asking for her father, an electrical engineer and shop steward. Hours later, he reported saving the young man's job from an attempt to fire him.
"I remember just thinking how remarkable that was: A, that somebody would try to wrongfully fire somebody. And B, that there was a structure in place that my father was a part of, that could actually go and save somebody's job," Quinn said.
Quinn's grandfather was an original member of the Transit Workers Union after Quill founded it in 1934, and today's transit workers haven't forgotten Quill.
Union members, many of them Irish-Americans, gathered Wednesday evening at a yearly event in his memory and that of Irish labor leader James Connolly.
For brothers Peter and John Vaughan, both members of the iron workers' union, their Irish-American heritage is tied up with their pride in what they, their father and their grandfather have built.
Their older brother's ashes are scattered at the Statue of Liberty, where he had proudly worked on the icon's restoration. guess handbags
"We built this city," said Peter Vaughan, 52.
Today's labor concerns are complex, he said, and as he's watched the battle over some municipal workers' benefits, he doesn't always come down on the side of the unions — siding with independent Mayor Michael Bloomberg in his bid to tie teachers' job security to their performance.
Still, he says, some traditions remain untouched.
Osaka fire department spokesman Yuko Kotani says the woman was found inside her house that was washed away by the tsunami in northeastern Japan's Iwate prefecture. The rescuers from Osaka, in western Japan, were sent to the area for disaster relief.
Kotani said the woman was conscious but suffering from hypothermia and is being treated at a hospital. She would not power balancegive the woman's name.
Her rescue was a rare bit of news for Japanese traumatized by the disaster.summer fashion trends
The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average slid 633.94 points, or 6.2 percent, to 9,620.49, extending losses from Friday. The earthquake hit shortly before markets closed for the weekend. Escalating concerns about the financial fallout of the disaster triggered a plunge that hit all sectors. The broader Topix index lost 7.5 percent.
The Bank of Japan moved quickly to try to keep financial markets stable. By flooding the banking system with cash, it hopes banks will continue lending money and meet the likely surge in demand for post-earthquake funds.
Japanese police said 1,000 washed up bodies were found scattered Monday across the coastline of Miyagi prefecture.
The official declined to be named, citing department policy. He said the Miyagi police chief inspected the areas from a helicopter Monday.summer fashion trends
The discovery raised the official death toll to about 2,800 but the Miyagi police chief has said that more than 10,000 people are estimated to have died in his province alone.
Friday's double-headed tragedy has caused unimaginable deprivation for people of this industrialized country that has not seen such hardships since World War II. In many areas there is no running water, no power and four- to five-hour waits for gasoline. People are suppressing hunger with instant noodles or rice balls while dealing with the loss of loved ones and homes.
"People are surviving on little food and water. Things are simply not coming," said Hajime Sato, a government official in Iwate prefecture, one of the three hardest hit. power balance
He said authorities were receiving just 10 percent of the food and other supplies they need. Even body bags and coffins are running so short the government may turn to foreign funeral homes for help, he said.