capitalize on what we re seeing. the national average gas price is $3.61. there are predictions we could see gas prices as high as 4 or $5. the president focusing his attention on energy. let s listen in. hello, miami. [ applause ] it s good to see all of you here today. i want to thank erica for that outstanding introduction. she said her parents were tweeting. i also want to thank donna.
gallon in the national average. could we be in for another recession? stu varney is here with the answers. that was a fabulous graphic, wasn t it? because it really shows the chain reaction effect you can have here from only gas prices. that s precisely right. there s two points to make here. number one, the gas price spike is now. it s happening right now. that graphic just showed $3.61. that s up $0.03 just in one day. and that s up $0.09 in a week. and in california, the price went up $0.07 overnight. just over last night. up $0.07. so .1, the spike is upon us. now that chain reaction you talked about, that is very really and happening now. up goes the price of gas, that raises the cost of transportation, putting goods into the grocery store. it takes consumers money away from them, they can t spend it. up goes the price of travel, leisure, hotels, airline fees fares have already gone up so
$4 a gallon. when he took oifts was $1.83, now it s $3.61. the difference in price in disposable income to americans is $230 billion a year. disposable income coming out of the economy and shipping it overseas to foreign oil sheiks. megyn: i want to get this point in. why are we subsidizing the oil companies. pull it it s $5 billion. but also pull the $25 billion in green energy subsidies. fine. i m all for that. you don t think we need alternative energy? but the private sector is the one that has to do it. megyn: we need alternative energy but politically how does that sell? barack obama talks about how we have less oil in our cars and trucks and how that s work. i get emails from viewers when
of gas closing in on $4. nbc s white house correspondent at the white house and joins me now on a beautiful day in washington, d.c. it certainly is. what is president obama really trying to sell down there in florida today? reporter: well, i think he s trying to head off imminent political criticism. you talked about the price of gas $3.61 today, it was $3.57 yesterday, last year at this time was $3.17. this is a problem, could be a problem as gas prices are continuing to rise into that stable summer driving season, it s starting really early this year and has a lot of democrats concerned about a political issue not to mention the millions of americans who are going to be paying more at the pump. it s sort of a bittered irony for the president as the green shoots are appearing in the economy, as the holy grail of consumer confidence goes up. the one thing that could blow it up, rising gas prices heading up toward $4 a gallon.
it ll be put to referendum and the people have an opportunity to vote on it. congressman steny hoyer, thank you so much for the time. year of the turtle, my friend. they did the other night. breaking news, tensions rising in afghanistan over an accidental burning of the koran, two americans dead and an apology from the president. plus, politics at the pump. gas prices jump more than 3 cents overnight to an average of $3.61. does the president have a solution as he heads to florida today? the best approach to food is to keep it whole for better nutrition. that s what they do with great grains cereal. they steam and bake the actual whole grain while the other guy s flake is more processed. mmm. great grains. the whole whole grain cereal.