Originally Posted by manual_overide

In the OP story, yes, it is completely those peoples' faults that they are in that situation. They budget fuel last as "whatever's leftover goes to gas and stuff". If gas shoots up unexpectedly, then sure they have a valid gripe, but everyone's known that gas is going up and up. If either one of those women have car problems, they are screwed. The lady who is making 7 or 8 bucks an hour and driving 68 miles one way is the craziest one. She could make that much anywhere within walking distance, yet she would have much more money on hand. No, it's not all because she isn't driving 140 miles every day, although that would help a lot, it's because she could work 2 more hours every day instead of sitting in the car. Just some rough math here:
Maybe she fills the car every 3 days, which would give her around 420 mi. to a tank (not unreasonable if you mostly do highway) @ somewhere close to $35 or $40 per tank, so about $80 per week in just gas.
2 more hours per week @ $8 per hour is $80 per week pre-tax. (assuming a 5 day work week) So if she could park the car and pick up those extra 2 hours, that's maybe $120 per week in her pocket after taxes and misc. driving for other stuff (or don't park the car, you don't use much gas driving a mile or so every day). That's $6200 per year. In her pocket. I don't know about you, but I sure wouldn't mind an extra $6200 per year after taxes.