To show how bad the economy is, there was a recent local story where it was touted that gas in some areas was down to $2.98 and was welcomed by a lot of people. Just down the street the local station is showing $3.19 and another one has $3.25.

Yeah, gas prices are certainly better than the $4.00 and up we paid over the summer, but are prices today really lower?

Not to put too fine a point on it but the answer is no. Yes, gas prices have adjusted themselves to nice levels, but that in part has been due to the lower demand on gas. With less demand worldwide gas prices started slowly coming down. We also can't forget this is a highly contested election season and the economy is a concern of the electorate. Prices at the pump tend to go down around election time, which, depending on who you talk to, is done to keep the republicans in power or is used to get people upset with the Democrats to ensure Republicans get in power.

The thing is it’s all an illusion. Price savings in one place are taken somewhere else, and in the end we really don't save as much as we think we do. We're hit in the news with economic indicators and charts, which in the long run mean nothing. A year ago gas was around $2.25 and you could find a dozen eggs for $1.50 in most places. Bread was around a buck. Today, even the venerable 99 cents store had to make adjustments to its pricing to keep items at 99 cents. Some things you used to be able to get 2 for 99 are now 1 for 79. In grocery stores a dozen eggs come in regularly at $2.25 or more and bread is at $1.50. Sure, you can pick up sale items to offset prices, but the prices I quoted are the average, everyday prices seen at any given time.

We are all spending more money. About the middle of this year I got a cost of living raise. I was kind of excited to get the increase, but once the taxes and other items were removed, I made a net gain of $10 a paycheck. I just moved into a new place, so the electricity and internet access, which was provided before, is eating into my money. End result? I have less extra money now than I did last year making less money. At this point I'm barely making payments on bills, but that's because of the move, so I'm hoping to be caught up this month and have the saving down to normal, but I still won't have as much money to save as I did previously.

So yes, we're saving money on gas but we're getting bit in other areas. Such a shame.