Why do gas prices not go down as economists predicted?

M: This morning in "Today’s Money", managing your budget with rising costs. Gas prices, bank fees and grocery bills are all on the rise, so is there anything you can do to avoid paying more? CNBC’s Kayla Tausche is here to help. Good morning.
W: Good to see you, Lester.
M: Let’s start with gas prices. Last year we thought it was the highest ever, the average $ 3.59 a gallon, now it’s $3.72.
W:(1)It’s a role reversal because economists say we’ll go down by the end of the year, expecting $3 on average, but a series of unexpected events, like fires at refineries which make oil into gasoline for us to drive have meant that instead of prices coming down in the fall, they’re actually going up. And as we see from that national average, they are climbing. A month ago they were $ 3. 43 a gallon. Now economists expect $ 4 a gallon by the end of the year.
M: Right, and you can only cut back driving so much. You can hold off the vacation, but we’re hitting a season now, people who need to drive more, right?
W: I think the answer is carpooling. You can’t cut back on driving your kids to school because we’re entering a season where driving is a necessity. You can’t really get around it. You’re going to have to get creative with your solutions here.
M: What are the solutions? Which states have the most expensive gas right now?
W: If you’re living in California, California did suffer a fire at a chevron refinery,(2)so you’ll see gas prices above $ 4 in California, the pacific northwest, in the Midwest, Michigan and Wisconsin, and of course, New York as well, but you’re lucky if you live in the middle states, in Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, also if you live in Mississippi or Louisiana. Those gas prices are below the national average.
M: All right. I want to turn to banking fees now. There’s been a lot of added regulation to the banking industry. They lost a lot of sources of revenue but quickly found them in terms of fees. There is a survey, the cost to maintain a checking account has increased over the past six months. Let’s start with the basic checking account. What’s the minimum requirement?
W: It’s gone up by $ 20, Lester, in the last year, so you’ll now need $ 409 to open a checking account. That’s going to be tough for students and people without a lot of disposable income, because even though a $ 20 increase isn’t that much, the banks really get you there. And you’re right, they’re searching for those creative solutions themselves.
M: And what about those service fees that they add on? I mean, those really add up.
W:(3)Right. Would you guess that those have gone up, too? $ 12.08 a month just to maintain your account, that’s up from $ 11.18 last year.
M: And a lot of them have—if you maintain a minimum amount, then you don’t hit those fees, but that’s gone up as well.
W: Right. It’s a trend, going up across the board. You now need $4,447 in your account to avoid just that $ 12 fee every month.(4)One solution for that, though, is direct deposit. If you do get paid on a regular basis and you sign up for direct deposit, even though that involves some red tape, you will get to avoid those monthly fees.
M: And what about going smaller, independent banks? Is that an option?
W:(4)It’s definitely an option. It’s one that we’ve seen a lot of big corporations and entities do. The Wall Street Journal reporting that the democratic national party actually changed its accounts from Bank of America to the union-backed amalgamated bank. Oftentimes, if you go to your local credit union or the smaller banks, they have zero to lower fees, and you can also avoid some of those minimum requirements.
M: And very quickly before we run out of time, food prices go up. What are some ways people can save a few bucks on food?
W:(5)Well, because of the drought, grains prices are going up in exorbitant amounts. That’s your breads, your pastas. The key with breads, buy toward the end of the day. Oftentimes, your grocery stores, instead of throwing out the freshly baked loaf, will mark down the price of that. Of course, if you have a big family, that’s the answer, but if you don’t want the bread to go bad, that may not be the answer, with produce, buy what’s in season, know what’s in season. On the USDA website, there’s a list of what produce, what fruits and vegetables you can buy. In the summer right now for fruits, watermelons, strawberries, cantaloupes, cherries; for vegetables, bell peppers, green beans, and I’m sorry, kids, peas, but that of course will change into the fall. Kids still won’t like broccoli, cauliflower and brussel sprouts.
M: Call them sweet peas, maybe they’ll like them. Kayla Tausche, thanks for your advice. Great to have you on.