[Lemon:] We're going to check your top stories right now. Americans are getting out of Libya. A ferry carrying about 300 people left the north African nation this morning heading for the island of Malta. They should arrive there next hour and you'll see it here on CNN. And Libya's defiant leader says he will fight to the death. Gadhafi addressed supporters in the capital of Tripoli during an appearance on state TV today. They have been protesting for more than a week now in Wisconsin over plans to strip public workers of their collective bargaining rights. Now, Governor Scott Walker says layoffs may start next week if a budget isn't approved. He had set today as the deadline. In a new segment, "The Price We Pay," we're examining the changing prices of important goods and services. So today, we're looking at the rising price of oil and gas. Oil hit $97.28 a barrel at yesterday's close and prices went as high of $103 earlier in the day. Wednesday was the first time in more than two years prices went above $100 a barrel. Yikes. Christine Romans joins us now from New York to help us break it all down. And that's right, I said yikes, Christine. Why are we seeing oil and gas prices rising and what does it mean for our wallets? Not good news.
[Romans:] No, it means fill her up today, top off the tank on your way home, Don, because probably gas prices are going to keep moving higher because gas is made out of crude oil and crude oil prices have been moving up. Now, right now, they're up by about 25 cents, 97.50 here in the U.S., but there are a lot of analysts who are saying they are expecting a return to above $100 oil. And that's because you're still having concerns in the Middle East. Libya is a producer of oil. We know there are satellite pictures showing that its oil infrastructure is at work. It is pumping oil still, but we generate about 87 million barrels a day of oil; we use about 88 million barrels a day of oil. So you can see, every drop that's coming out of the ground is accounted for. Libya has the largest oil reserve in Africa. It exports to the United States, but more importantly it exports to Europe, which is now scrambling to make sure that they have the right kinds of supplies. Gas prices up last night six cents overnight, Don. In one night, up six cents, so you're feeling it right away. And there are analysts who are telling me they expect prices to keep rising over the next week or two. The last time we had $100 oil, we had gas prices at $3.64. So think about that, we're even below where we were last time we had $100 oil. And every penny increase at the gas pump takes $4 million out of our collective pockets every single day, that's according to Peter Beutel from Cameron Hanover. Listen to his explanation.
[Peter Beutel, Energy Analyst:] The 30-cent increase that I expect we will see between next week and this week, there you're talking about $120 million each and every day that it remains in place out of American consumer's pockets.
[Romans:] Did you catch that, Don? He said 30-cent increase. He's expecting a 30-cent increase. Now, the price of everything we pay is going up. It's not just oil, but gold is going up. Grains are going up. Meat prices are up 10 percent year over year. A lot of money has been flooding into these commodities as interest rates have been low. So you're hearing people talk about the fact that there are investors who are helping drive things up as much there are consumers and geopolitical risk. All of these things coming together here, Don.
[Lemon:] And it's all doubly so because we're in the middle of a global recovery, at least we're trying.
[Romans:] Right.
[Lemon:] And if it was good economic times, it would be a different story, but this has the possibility to drag the entire world economy down. So we're paying close attention to it. Thank you, Christine Romans. Have a great weekend.
[Romans:] You're welcome, Don. You, too.
[Lemon:] By plane and ferry, Americans fleeing Libya as witnesses report fierce fighting in the capital of Tripoli. The latest on the revolt against Moammar Gadhafi right after this.