ANYBODY IN WASHINGTON INTERESTED? - AT 8:46 P.M. ET: 

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Gas prices continue to surge nationwide, and are now up more than 27% in the past seven and a half weeks.

The average cost of a gallon of regular gasoline rose slightly Sunday to $2.613, from $2.606 according to motorist group AAA. This is the fortieth consecutive daily increase in the price of gas. In just the past week, prices have increased more than 4%.

COMMENT:  This can have a devastating effect on any economic recovery, and put inflationary pressures on the economy.  Yet, there seems very little interest in Washington or in the mainstream media.  Of course, there's a whole element in the capital that thinks higher gas prices are a good thing - forcing us into alternative fuels.  That's a convenient intellectual argument, but of course it ignores the financial pressures on families.  But families don't rank too high in the calculations of the presumed intellectual classes.

June 8, 2009