\n<\/p>\n
On a rainy Detroit afternoon at a gas station off Interstate 75, Victor Rodriguez watched the pump tally tick up as he filled up his F-250 diesel pickup truck for $4.19 per gallon. It totaled $110. \u201cRidiculous,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The US-Israel war on Iran has crippled major portions of the oil supply chain, sending gas prices soaring as the conflict enters its third week. Rodriguez said he supports \u201cgetting rid of this thug\u201d, referring to Iran\u2019s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed by the US, but the cost is too high.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez said he jumped off the freeway while returning from an airport drop-off because he saw diesel advertised for $4.19 per gallon. The high price is a deal compared with the $5.00 per gallon he saw in Romeo, an exurb where he lives about a half-hour drive north.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing is worth higher gas prices, obviously,\u201d Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n
Across Michigan, gas prices have spiked by 60 cents per gallon over the most recent week analyzed by insurer AAA. Most have pushed even higher in recent days, topping $4.30 at one station near downtown Detroit, where prices are generally among the highest. Prices are up 27 cents across the US on average, according to AAA\u2019s last figures.<\/p>\n
Gas prices matter in Michigan \u2013 a critical swing state that Donald Trump narrowly won twice and lost once. His promise to lower prices across the economy helped propel him back to power here in 2024. So far he has dismissed the nation\u2019s pump pain as temporary. \u201cI don\u2019t have any concern about it,\u201d the president told Reuters. \u201cThey\u2019ll drop very rapidly when this is over, and if they rise, they rise, but this is far more important than having gasoline price go up a little bit. And they haven\u2019t risen very much.\u201d<\/p>\n
That sentiment was not widely shared in Detroit, where those filling up at gas stations broadly expressed frustration over paying higher prices for the war, with some exceptions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t give a shit about Iran. I don\u2019t want to pay higher gas,\u201d said Kevin Dass, an underemployed father of two in Detroit who paid $3.49 per gallon on Eight Mile Road, a busy thoroughfare that separates the city and suburbs. He is considering driving less, but options are limited \u2013 metro Detroit\u2019s public transit system is sparse and unreliable.<\/p>\n
A few miles north in Madison Heights, Del Carey shook her head and said the war is \u201cunnecessary\u201d as she paid $3.70 per gallon to fill up her SUV. \u201cI think we should stay in our own business and leave theirs alone,\u201d Carey said.<\/p>\n
She lives in nearby Warren, in Macomb county, a swing county that received national attention in recent years for its outsize role in deciding presidential elections. She said no one she knows is for the war. Though Carey has not started making any financial adjustments, she may cut back on dining out if high prices continue, reflecting a broader anxiety about the economic future.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez also lives in Macomb county. He said his liberal friends and neighbors are angered by the war and prices while conservative folks he knows are more supportive of Trump, but even they are struggling with elevated gas prices.<\/p>\n
But Trump isn\u2019t the only one getting the blame. Rodriguez said he also blames the Opec oil cartel for price gouging, and Michigan\u2019s governor, Gretchen Whitmer, a potential future Democratic presidential contender. Michigan just passed a gas tax to raise money for road repairs. That went into effect at the beginning of the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a problem with Trump and we\u2019ve got a problem with Gretchen,\u201d Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n
Earl Striggan, who filled up at $3.60 a gallon at a station in Clawson, said he is categorically against war. \u201cWar is never worth it. It\u2019s good for no one,\u201d he said. He is not feeling the pinch yet, but he added that he can see what\u2019s on the horizon. \u201cIf it continues on this slope, it\u2019s going to get real dicey and a lot of people aren\u2019t going to get in their car \u2013 they\u2019ll stay in the house and that\u2019s going to affect businesses,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Imminent relief from higher gas prices doesn\u2019t seem to be on the horizon. Oil spiked at $119 per barrel early this week, marking the first time prices surged past $100 per barrel since the July 2022 Covid price shocks. Prices are expected to rise further if Iran continues with its closure of the strait of Hormuz, a narrow passage through which many oil tankers must pass.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Hormuz traffic remained stopped, the monumental oil supply shock will manifest as sharp price spikes in wealthy nations that sap disposable incomes,\u201d oil industry analyst Rory Johnston said. Poorer nations could see physical shortages, he added. Even if the strait reopened today, oil prices would be slow to come down.<\/p>\n
Not everyone was upset about the prices, including Ken, an autoworker in Detroit who declined to give his last name. He acknowledged the hit people are taking, but said he trusts the president\u2019s judgment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been proven that Iran massacred thousands of their citizens, so I back Trump even though I didn\u2019t vote for him \u2013 Iran needs to get the fuck on,\u201d Ken said.<\/p>\n
The financial pinch is minimal for him so far, he said, because he makes enough to cover the costs. And, he added, \u201cevery little thing that happens makes our prices go up. This is just one more thing that happens, so I\u2019m not overacting.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow if it goes up to $10 per gallon \u2013 then we might have a problem,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On a rainy Detroit afternoon at a gas station off Interstate 75, Victor Rodriguez watched the pump tally tick up as he filled up his F-250 diesel pickup truck for $4.19 per gallon. It totaled $110. \u201cRidiculous,\u201d he said. The US-Israel war on Iran has crippled major portions of the oil supply chain, sending gas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[1485,13017,1326,335,867,254,495,84,7119,7197,1040,13263,269,8241,2229],"class_list":{"0":"post-46645","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-city","9":"tag-detroit","10":"tag-dont","11":"tag-feel","12":"tag-gas","13":"tag-give","14":"tag-higher","15":"tag-iran","16":"tag-motor","17":"tag-motorists","18":"tag-pay","19":"tag-pinch","20":"tag-prices","21":"tag-shit","22":"tag-surge"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/46646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}