retiree plans hoping to make up for it later. and second, they ve been too hopeful here. thinking that deposits for retiree plans would grow twice as fast as it actually did over the last decade. now, the solutions could affect more than state employees. raising personal income taxes, for instance. 66% in illinois. that s how much they raise it. most going to pay for pensions. or breaking the promise and cutting current retiree benefits. colorado, minnesota, south dakota have all done that. so chris, the shortfall could amount, by the way, to over $20,000 per family across the country. it makes so many people nervous who are counting on that money. thanks, richard. it s now official, the price of gas is up by more than $1 a gallon from one year ago. look at the new numbers from aaa. $3.87, the national average. a 29 cent jump in just a month. $1.02 higher than a year ago. for president obama, the pain at the pump is killing his poll numbers. among critical independent
rising gas prices could play a pivotal role in the 2012 election. here are the latest numbers from aaa. nationwide regular gas at $3.87. right now for regular, 29-cent jump from a month ago. a dollar jump from a year ago. a washington post/abc news poll drills down to gauge the opinions of independent voters saying gas prices caused them serious hardship. they re independent politically and saying that these gas prices are killing them. 67% of this group disapprove of president obama s job performance. 60% said they don t vote for the guy. they re hard hit and they have to travel a lot. in the head-to-head matchup of voters, they choose mitt romney. joan walsh, that is tough one. she s editor-at-large for salon.com. douglas holtz eakin was an adviser in the mccain campaign.
except that s exactly what they do and that s exactly what that walkback is saying. oh, no, no, of course, we will never, ever raise taxes on the oil companies. in fact, we will continue to give them subsidies because they are our boss and so we reminded the speaker who he works for, he said, of course not, i will not be raising taxes on big oil, i will defend them. now this debate is over subsidies because we have got tremendous gas price problems. gas hit an average of $3.87 a gallon today. and that climbed toward $4 a gallon is starting to have political affects, which is unsurprising you a new washington post poll shows 71% of americans say high gas prices are causing them financial hardship. and among independents suffering from gas prices, just 28% approve of president obama. that is a devastating number. and 60% say they definitely will not vote for him next year. you have got to be concerned about that if your eat president and it appears he is.
election. nationwide regular gas at $3.87. right now for regular, 29-cent jump from a month ago. a dollar jump from a year ago. a poll drills down to gauge the n t opinions of independent voters saying gas prices caused them serious hardship. they re independent politically and saying that these gas prices are killing them. 67% of this group disapprove of president obama s job performance. 60% said they don t vote for the guy. they re hard hit and they have to travel a lot. in the head to head matchup of voters, they choose mitt romney. joan walsh, that is tough one. editor at large for salon.com. joan, i believe that we lost like if you look at it gas prices is one of those things that hits people right in the face. they look that the that pump, up to 80 for supreme and a couple
almost 34 cents in 2 weeks. that s according to aaa. the fastest, highest increase since right after hurricane katrina. now, if this rate of increase keeps up, i m not saying it will, we ll set a new record for gas inside of a month. the highest average gas price to date, $4.11 in july of 2008. remember, averages are made from extremes which means $3.51 as a national average looks pretty good to folks in san diego. $3.87. houston, $336. billings, montana, $3.15, a deal. you cannot talk about gas without talking about oil. so i have hauled out my barrel for 2:00 at the top. this is an old oil barrel. today this much west texas intermediate crude which we use selling for more than $100 a barrel. i have a chart for that, too. this past month in which the price of same oil barrel shot up