It was a shocker. The news item in one of the national dailies this week was on the expected raise in the prices of diesel fuel, gasoline and other petroleum products. Such would be the result of a new tax law which is about to be passed into law.
The raise would be one of the biggest in recent memory. The ball park figures cited are about P6.75 per liter of diesel fuel and P6.35 for gasoline. For the other oil products, the figures will also be proportionate with these figures.
Coal also will be heavily taxed and a big chunk of our electricity is being produced with the use of this source of energy. Our electric bills will be higher, anything manufactured that we buy will certainly become more expensive as manufacturers are the biggest electric consumers.
In short, the prices of everything will be much higher.
While one of best ways to deal with this is to earn more and spend less, each and every one of us will be in a peculiar situation. So each one of us should draw up a plan on how to deal with these realities to be implemented after the Christmas bells stop ringing.**