Guest host, Jane Clayson:

Filling up your tank these days can set you back $50, $100, even $150.

That’s big money. And in many families, it means something else has got to give. It could be meals out. The summer road trip. The super-sized SUV. The suburban house.

Americans are already cutting back. They’re driving less. Shopping for smaller cars. Rediscovering Amtrak.

But prices keep going up. And up.

This hour, On Point: Running on empty. How American families are dealing with high gas prices.

Guests:

Justin Lahart, economics reporter for The Wall Street Journal;
Lutz Kilian, professor of economics at the University of Michigan. He has looked closely at the effects of oil price shocks on the economy.

Paolo Timoni, CEO of Piaggio Group Americas, which manufacturers the Vespa scooters. Piaggio sold a record 2,758 Vespas in May, a jump of 106 percent over last year.

L. Brooks Patterson, Oakland County (Michigan) Executive. The country, north of Detroit, is the largest in Michigan, with 1.2 million people. On June 12, the County approved a plan to give its more than 4,000 employees the option to work four 10-hour days per week.