Nobody Here But Us Economizers

Americans have cried wolf for the past couple of years, claiming that high gas prices were forcing strict austerity in their other expenditures. Empirical data has cast doubt on such claims, as consumer spending has kept rising in nearly any category you can think of. At some point, though, energy prices really could compel sharp cuts in other outlays, and current signs at the gas station make you wonder if that point has arrived. The chart, excerpting an ACNielsen poll, shows how people now claim to be coping.