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Pets pay as household costs soar
Sunday Mail (Adelaide Australia)
PETS are now paying the price of soaring household costs with a surge in the number of dogs and cats being abandoned at animal shelters.

Many pets are given away by owners who say they have had to make a choice between paying rising interest rates, petrol and grocery bills or keeping their pets, according to the Animal Welfare League.
(11 May 2008)
For a spirited statement about the utility of animals post-peak, see the Review of Kunstler's post-peak novel by a woman who has lived the life (Elaine Meinel Supkis).

Contributor Michael Lardelli writes:
This was bound to happen. Chickens might be better pets - they weed, manure, lay eggs, provide company and even taste great (if you can stomach eating your companion).

Family budgets set to rise again as production costs climb at fastest pace for more than 20 years
This Is London
Factory gate prices surged at their fastest pace since records began more than 20 years ago during April, official figures showed today.

Soaring petrol costs, Budget tax hikes on alcohol and tobacco as well as rising steel scrap prices pushed up output prices 1.4 per cent between March and April, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

This is the highest monthly increase since records began in 1986 - likely to fuel inflation concerns among Bank of England policymakers and jolt hopes of interest rate cuts.
(13 May 2008)

How the energy crunch hurts UK
Tim Webb, The Observer,
From classical musicians to pensioners, from airlines to bus firms, no one can escape the runaway escalation of the cost of fuel.
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... Like the concert halls and music lovers he caters for, Beecher is an unlikely victim of record oil prices. Last week they hit a new record of $126 a barrel - almost double the price a year ago - and Goldman Sachs warned that it could hit the $200 mark within two years. This feeds directly through to fuel prices, with diesel up by about a quarter in the last year in the UK.

Road hauliers have been the most vocal, and most visible, protesters. Two weeks ago, a convoy of almost 100 lorries and trucks descended on London's Park Lane to highlight their plight.

But victims of record oil prices are to be found throughout the economy, and the identities of some are more obvious than others. The transport sector, such as bus operators and hauliers, is particularly hard hit. And jet kerosene prices have increased even more than diesel, eating into airlines' profits and helping to send many smaller operators to the wall.

The price of oil also indirectly affects the price of gas, and, in this country at least, the price of electricity. Clearly, any business that runs a shop or office has utility bills to pay - as does every household. Utility bills have gone up by an estimated 85 per cent on average over the past five years, according to consumer group Energywatch.
(11 May 2008)

America's Money: Gas crunch hits home
CNN Money
The record-high price of gasoline is putting a strain on American motorists - and spurring some to shift their habits. Here are their stories.

Yvonne Peck: Pain beyond the pump
Stay-at-home mom, 33, Evansville, Ind.

My husband is an over the road truck driver for a company here in Indiana. They've slowed the trucks down to save on fuel, which causes my husband's trips to take longer to deliver. Therefore, his paychecks are lower. (He only gets paid when the current trip he is on is completed.)
(12 May 2008)