LONG BEACH, NY, June 28, 2008
Gas Prices Put Chill On Vacation Season
Along East Coast, Home Sales, Rentals Down, Causing Ripple Effects In Summer Vacation Market
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Play CBS Video Video Gas Prices Hinder Vacations As gas prices soar to well over $4 a gallon, many would-be vacationers are deciding to stay home. As Tony Guida reports, the summer rental market on the East Coast has been hit particularly hard.
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Along the East Coast, summer home sales and rentals are down. Many people affected by the downturn in business blame high gas prices. (CBS)
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Brutal gas prices and a stingy mortgage market add up to heavy weather for home sales and rentals.
"Our rentals are down about 10 percent and our sales are down about 15 percent over last year," realtor Donn O'Brien told CBS News correspondent Tony Guida.
Even the best rentals are hurting. A four-bedroom house right on the ocean that's usually booked solid from Memorial Day through Labor Day is not this week - and that's costing the owner $5,000.
"I just had a person who called me a few minutes ago and said 'Next week is open, get anything you can,'" said O'Brien.
Retailers are suffering too, with fewer shoppers spending fewer dollars. At Hand's department store in Beach Haven, owner John Turner is worried.
"Ninety-two percent of our sales are in the six months from Easter to Columbus Day," said Turner.
Halfway through the season, said Turner, summer sales are down at least four percent. The story is similar elsewhere on the eastern seaboard.
A motel owner on Cape Cod reports fewer bookings this June and fewer sightings of American vacationers. But Canadians and Europeans are coming, drawn by the anemic dollar.
In the Outer Banks of North Carolina, one realtor spoke of a summer slump. Even the fabled Hamptons of Eastern Long Island are not immune - a prominent realtor there told CBS News the number of home sales is off 35 percent and summer rentals are down by 25 percent.
The kitchen at Howard's Restaurant in Beach Haven, usually humming over the weekend, is not. Sales are down 20 percent - symptomatic of a wider problem, said manager Kevin Sparks.
"My produce comes from the Philly market and that market is off too, which means the whole region is off," Sparks said.
The culprit?
"It's gas, gas and gas," said Turner. "You know $4 a gallon kills people."
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Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 233 CommentsThe other item is open up all, thats rite, all potential petroleum sites... west coast, Florida, east coast and Alaska. Take the speculation away and watch the oil prices drop.
Our nation is now at a turning point and our lifestyles as we once knew them are in severe jepordy.Hopefully, the greed and misdirected national and global policies can be overcome%u2026%u2026%u2026if not, then God help us.
You''re an idiot also!! We need to cut consumption fool.
Posted by incog-nit
Ha, ha, ha! You gotta be *******'' me!! MBA''s have been ***'' up American businesses for years now. Who the he ll do you think is telling everyone to go offshore with all of our Mfg? Besides, dollars to donuts, most of the CEO''s ARE MBA''s!!
HUSSEIN STAFFS HIS CAMPAIGN WITM MEMBERS OF THE NEW BLACK PANTHER PARTY THAT DIVIDES US RATHER THAN UNITES US,,,
HUSSEIN STAFFS HIS CAMPAIGN WITM MEMBERS OF THE NATION OF TERRORISLAM THAT DIVIDES US RATHER THAN UNITES US,,,
HUSSEIN IS A RACIST WHICH DIVIDES US RATHER THAN UNITES US,,,
DEMONIC-RAT HUSSEIN IS NOT THE SOLUTION,,,
BLAME THE DEMONIC-RATS,,,
THE DEMONIC-RAT DOCTRINE,,,
On February 16, 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt said the "the defense of Saudi Arabia is vital to the defense of the United States." On February 14, 1945, while returning from the Yalta Conference, Roosevelt met with King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia on the Great Bitter Lake in the Suez Canal, the first time a U.S. president had visited the Persian Gulf region.
The Carter Doctrine was a policy proclaimed by President of the United States Jimmy Carter in his State of the Union Address on 23 January 1980, which stated that the United States would use military force if necessary to defend its national interests in the Persian Gulf region. The doctrine was a response to the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union, and was intended to deter the Soviet Union%u2014the Cold War adversary of the United States%u2014from seeking hegemony in the Persian Gulf. After stating that Soviet troops in Afghanistan posed "a grave threat to the free movement of Middle East oil," Carter proclaimed:
Let our position be absolutely clear: An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force. (full speech)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_Doctrine
Thanks to our local Native American Indian Reservation E-85 is plentiful.
The gas guzzlers were being filled twice a week last year for a total of about 80 gallons per week.
The new Hybrid gets filled once every two weeks (12 gallon tank) With E-85 being only 15% gasoline there is only 1.8 gallons of gas being used every two weeks.
High gas prices forced us to change but we still travel.
do nothing,,,,
if you want a baby,,, you have to f''''k,,, yes it still will take 9 months,,,
if you want oil,,, you have to DRILL,,,
NORWAY had a huge find off their coast,,, they are oil independent now,,,
brazil had two huge oil finds off their coast,,,
DEMONIC-RATS will let CHINA drill off the usa coast before it allows the usa to,,,
talk about putting party before country,,,
DEMONIC-RATS are the wrong way and the wrong change,,,
The supplemental spending bill provides nearly $162 billion in war funding without the restrictions congressional Democrats vowed to put into place since they took control of Congress nearly two years ago.
No wounder the US dollar is in the toilet!
Another 162 Billion Dollars, Bush YOU SUCK !
Economizing takes all sorts of forms. We hope they come to their senses and realize how important the getaway vacation is to their kids and their heads, and choose to eat fish and chips rather than crab-stuffed lobster when they go out.
We hope they come to their senses and realize how important the getaway vacation is to their kids and their heads, and choose to eat fish and chips rather than crab-stuffed lobster when they go out.
We hope they come to their senses and realize how important the getaway vacation is to their kids and their heads, and choose to eat fish and chips rather than crab-stuffed lobster when they go out.
In 2006 & 2007 Iran & Venezuela vested oil deals and partnered to develop tracts in Venezuelas Orinoco Reserve. One tract Iran will help develop contains approximately 30 billion barrels of oil.
Venezuela''s total oil reserves are estimated at 265 billion barrels which could top the Saudi''s Reserves.
Venezuela, has struck oil and natural gas deals with Iran & Malaysia , as well as China and Russia . China & Russia. will aid and protect Venezueala if needed .
In March of 2008 a Cambridge, MA. oil & Gas consulting firm issued a report to Congress. In that report the Congress was told that the laws of supply & demand no longer apply to oil. Demand is constant with only small fluctuations at any given time. Although world demand will increase their is plenty of supply. BIG OIL currently leases 90 million acres of oil & gas land & offshore sites, 70 million are not in use. It is not in Big Oil''s economic interest to use these 70 million acres as they have enough supply at this time. Big oil does not want to loose profit by increasing supply , after all selling oil products is their business. Additional offshore and Alaskan wilderness leases are not necessary, Big Oil just wants additional control of these areas for future marketing.
The Saudi''s and Big Oil are very happy with the Bush & Cheney energy policy which eliminated Iraqi world oil market manipulation. Saddam kept prices down by selling cheap thus preventing the Saudi''s & Big Oil from getting the prices up. Bush & Cheney opened Pandora''s box & now things will never be the same.
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See all 233 Comments