Just NBC the Concern Trolling

“Consumers Taking Financial Hit From Rising Fuel Prices,” CNBC reports today:

Consumers have been spending more on gasoline than they have in nearly three decades.

With pump prices at their highest level on record for this time of year, the stage is set for an even greater climb in gasoline prices and expenditures than in 2012. Retail gasoline prices have surged 17 cents in a week to top $3.50 a gallon on average, posting the highest prices on record for the beginning of February. (Read More: Gasoline at Highest Price Ever for This Time of Year.)

According to AAA, the national average price of regular gasoline is $3.52 a gallon, 4 cents higher than the average price a year ago. The average price was $3.35 a gallon a week ago and $3.30 a gallon a month ago.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported Monday that gasoline expenditures in 2012 for the average U.S. household reached $2,912, or just under 4 percent of income before taxes. This was the highest estimated percentage of household income spent on gasoline in nearly three decades, with the exception of 2008, when the average household spent a similar amount. Gasoline prices averaged $3.63 a gallon in 2012, according to EIA.

So in other words, gasoline prices are reaching the levels advocated by NBC’s Tom Brokaw in December of 2008, and by MSNBC’s Chris Hayes in December of 2012, echoing the 2008 party line of line of both Obama and his recently departed “Energy” Secretary, Steven Chu.

Mission Accomplished!

And note this in the CNBC report:

Although overall gasoline consumption has decreased in recent years, a rise in average gasoline prices has led to higher overall household gasoline expenditures, according to the EIA.

Fox Butterfield, is that you?