[lbo-talk] Gas prices 2nd highest level ever

[jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net]

> B. wrote:
> 
> >Govt: Gas prices 2nd highest level ever:
> >
> >http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/energy_gasoline_price_dc
> >
> >Good thing? Bad thing? "A little bit o' both"?
> 
> Good if it discourages consumption. Bad if it screws the working class.
> 
> Last year, Wal-Mart was saying that high gas prices were costing 
> their average customer $7 a week, which was enough to depress sales 
> noticeably. For most of last year and the first two months of this 
> year, Wal-Mart sales growth has lagged the retail average - and that 
> gas pinch has something to do with it.
> 
> Doug

Is Wal-Mart saying this is so enough to make it true? Why would Wal-Mart lag the retail 
average because of gas prices? Why wouldn't Target? I don't doubt that gas prices have an 
effect on retail sales but why would Wal-Mart be disproportionately hit?

When gas prices rise people do less distance driving and sometimes combine trips a bit more 
efficiently than they might otherwise but would they be less likely to buy a widget or groceries 
at Wal-Mart than elsewhere? Unless it is because Wal-Mart's have tended to cluster at the 
peripheries of cities and are less convenient than other places?

John Thornton