Texans Going To Pawn Shops To Get Extra Gas $$

Really, what can you expect when you have two oil men in the White House?

I still see people with W '04 stickers on the back of their SUVs filling up and they're still smiling. I guess they think it's all worth it because it's better to fight them over there so we don't have to fight them here. But it cost me $46 to fill up my 4 cylinder Camry. I don't understand what they're smiling about.

There are people who are going to say that the Bush administration can't do much about high gas prices. It's a matter of supply and demand. But when Bush was campaigning in '00 he said that the president can help keep the cost of gas down by calling the OPEC cartel and telling them to open the spigot. Well, Bush is the Decider and I don't see him deciding to call his OPEC friends.

"Texans Going To Pawn Shops To Get Extra Gas $$

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(CBS 11 News) DALLAS High gasoline prices are causing some people to take desperate measures.

Pawn shops say their business is increasing, with some customers saying they're selling things to buy gas.

Gas prices are climbing again, with most stations prices hovering at, or just below $3.00 a gallon. For some people the high fuel prices are overwhelming.

'We just have customers come in and have to tell us that they need money ‘till the end of the week, for gas to get back and forth to work,' said pawn shop owner, Gerald Costner.

Everything from high end jewelry, to name brand purses, and televisions… pawn shop owners say they are seeing it all come in. They say customers are frustrated and have no place to go to get extra cash for gas.

'Some of the construction people tell us they are having to pawn their tools to buy gas, but when they pawn their tools they can't go out and work in the construction business ‘cause their tools are in pawn. So it kind of a catch-22,” Costner said.

Mary Rodriguez has worked at the Casa View Pawn Shop for five years. She says she's seen people of all ages coming in looking for help.

“We've always had a clientele of the young kids, or middle age kids, and now we’re getting an older generation. Which, it just seems wrong that they have to pawn things just to get gas, or ya know, to make ends meet on things like that.'

As prices continue to rise at the pumps, many motorists say they don't see things getting better anytime soon, for the consumer.

“It is frustrating, but the thing is they know they can get away with it, because people need gas,” Rodriguez said.

At Casa View Pawn, the owner says they've seen the increase in numbers over the past couple months.

(CBS 11 News)"