The price of diesel gasoline is starting to cut into the budgets of people such as truckers who use it to make a living.
Diesel fuel is known as the "workhorse" fuel that keeps transportation moving around the world -- trucks use it for hauling, some trains use it, many buses and public transportation depend on it and so do maritime shipping, farming and military vehicles.
That's why the price of diesel fuel is crucial to the world economy, and why the current rising price -- now above $5 a gallon in most of Texas -- is of great concern.
The case of Miguel Caveda, who's recently seen the cost of his diesel rise 40-percent over the past three weeks, is sited in The Wall Street Journal as someone who already feels the need to cut back on his use of the fuel.
And the newspaper says Caveda is well aware that the costs of fuel and their impact on transportation are going to have an effect on the costs of goods moved by the truckers, trains and transport that move them -- that means the costs will be passed on to consumers.
About 76-pecent of commercial trucks run on diesel, and despite the hopes of renewable energy advocates, economic analysts don't predict much of a move toward electric trucks and machinery, which are still too expensive for many, especially small businesses and smalltime truckers.
The increase in the cost of diesel reflects a slowly growing scarcity based on its role as a biproduct of oil refining, which is seeing something of a worldwide dip since a number of Russian refineries were taken out by Ukranian forces as the war in Ukraine has progressed, and now the war in Iran is taking out oil-related facilities at a growing rate.