Although I live deep in the heart of Texas where I can avoid wearing long pants for at least half of every year, I sympathize with all our Yankee brethren who are at the mercy of heating oil prices every winter. Many of my favorite economic pundits have been warning of the possibility that a record-breaking, miserable winter season could on the way for many Americans. These are not meteorologists predicting terrible storms or exceptionally low temperatures, but financial experts warning of record heating oil prices. Although we seem to be catching a small break in the upward spiral of gasoline prices lately, they are still the highest Americans have ever had to contend with on a consistent basis.
Click the chart above to enlarge for viewing. Notice how heating oil prices have consistently risen in their own plotted line above that of the oil prices per barrel. Here is the really scary part: this chart peaks in October 2005! That was back in the good old days before gas prices doubled and the housing bubble popped. How many of you are now living in your cars? How many more homeless Americans are there now than there were in 2005? How many of you no longer have homes to heat? How many of you will be using your heating oil funds to purchase food? For Americans living in colder climates, this could be the scariest winter of all.
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