US Families Pay Over $4,000 For Gas in 2011

Did 2011 seem a little more expensive to you than 2010? Well, if a significant portion of your family's income is dedicated to getting around in an automobile, you probably noticed the impact of gas prices on your budget.

Chances are most American families did just that -- with reason. According to a story in today's Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the typical American family paid $4,200 for gas in 2011. That's $350 per month for "fill it up, please."

The most startling fact in the Journal-Sentinel story appears about halfway through it: "Fuel was the top U.S. export in 2011, the first time that's every happened."

That's right -- the land of "drill, baby, drill" exported fuel.

Of course, if you want to believe the feds and a gaggle of compliant Wall street analysts, there's no inflation in the United States. Those higher food and fuel prices, though, don't count. They're "volatile," and are consequently dismissed in standard inflation calculations.

For those whose family income goes into paying for such "volatile" necessities, those assurances are cold comfort.