Kiss that federal stimulus check goodbye ? if you haven?t already.
By this week the average American family will have spent its entire federal stimulus payment on the increased price of gas, according to a report released Wednesday by the Maryland Public Interest Research Group.
The Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 signed into law Feb. 13 gave $1,500 to joint-filing couples with one child or single parents with three children.
The windfall-style payments were intended to boost the economy and spur retail purchases.
“Instead, as gas prices have risen, American families have dumped their stimulus checks into their gas tanks,” said Johanna Neumann, the Maryland PIRG state director.
“It?s akin to signing over the stimulus check to big oil.”
According to the MPIRG report, the average household spends $100 per week on gas, up from $60 per week when the federal act was signed four months ago.
A recent federal report found Americans responded bydriving fewer miles last year for the first time in almost 30 years.
Use of public transportation is also increasing, and Wednesday?s event highlighted what local groups called a failure to finance local transportation alternatives.
Public transportation saved 132.3 million gallons of gas in 2006, according to a PIRG analysis, approximately $540 million with today?s gas prices.
But Baltimore travelers still rely on cars to link a disjointed public transportation system, said Richard Chambers, executive director of transportation advocacy group One Less Car.
“We have the subway downtown, we have light rail, we have buses, we have MARC. But they don?t connect very well.”
