I wonder how many Americans realize that their soft power is dead. Will it cost them?

The perspective from over here in HN land is very skewed.

According to the US Census, median household income in 2024 was $80,000. Add federal and state income tax* of 30%, and you're left with $56,000. Rent in lower-cost areas is around $12,000 ($1k/mo.) and health insurance (assuming ACA, not fancy private plans) is another $7000. Utility prices vary wildly but average something like $450-500 (so $6000 per year). if you don't live in a particularly high-cost area and skip luxuries like home Internet service or media subscriptions.

That's just over $30,000 left over per year for all household expenses, including "luxuries" like food, clothes, and car and home maintenance. Heaven forbid you have loans (car, student, etc.) or any revolving credit debt.

The difference between $5k and $10k in fuel costs is therefore easily 15% vs. 35% of total "inessential" spending. With food and other goods consistently been driven up by inflation and tariffs, there's just no margin for an "average" family.

(Sources vary for the above; US Census comes data from its own website, rent from TIME, health costs from Forbes, and utilities from move.org. Feel free to find better reference numbers if you doubt the above.)

*- yes, not all states charge income tax; most of the ones that don't have other taxes (sales, gas, property) to make up the gap

> The average family spends something like $5,000 on gas a year, maybe $10k.

Half of that.

https://www.fool.com/money/research/gas-prices/

You're forgetting the downstream effects of high gas prices though

i don't own a car, i bike everywhere with young kids. i like public transport. we're not talking about that. people fucking LOVE cars. they LOVE single family homes. everywhere, in every community.

In 2015, the US lifted its ban on exporting domestic oil. Since then, US domestic pricing has been linked to the global price.

This means that "domestic production" does not mean what you imply (which is "domestic production that must be sold in the US.") If US producers can make more money selling 100% of domestic production overseas, they will do that.

This is not price-fixing, it is the predictable outcome of a market design where US drivers bid against Asian airlines for petroleum products.

Oil is fungible. Oil producers are going to sell it to whoever pays the most. There is no law that says US oil producers have to sell it to US customers. Having domestic supply does nothing to insulate US consumers from higher prices.

Many products are shipped half way across the US on semi trucks, that hits everyone’s pockets even if you drive an EV.

Train’s move around vast amounts of freight but they got optimized for coat per ton for coal, wheat, etc not latency. Which then plays havoc if you try and do just in time manufacturing etc using them. Airfare and thus airfreight is simply dominated by fuel costs which hits many industries in ways that are less obvious but still expensive.

The transaction costs of selling the median home is like $40k. Buys a lot of gas.

How often do you buy groceries? How are groceries transited over to your local store?