And Now It's Time To Start Freaking Out Over Gasoline Prices Again...

Everyone's focused on the impact of the end of the payroll tax holiday (and the sequester) on consumer spending.

But there's another headwind that's classically a problem: Gas prices.

They're jumping again.

Here's the chart of gasoline futures (via Sober Look) showing them surging.

In fact, gasoline prices are at their highest levels for this time of year.

So that's the bad news.

The good news is that consumers get increasingly inured to higher gas prices and end up compensating to the sticker shock.

Still, if this keeps up, expect it to be a big issue again fairly soon.