UPDATE: The Associated Press just reported that Exxon Mobil's first-quarter profits for 2008 were up 17 percent over the same period last year. The company's reported profit for the first three months of the year: $10.9 billion - that's billion with a B. And yes, that's PROFIT.

I'm speechless. The only thing I can think to say is: Are you *&$()%&% kidding me?

A new survey just released this morning by the Siena Research Institute indicates rising gas prices is the chief economic concern of 73 percent of New Yorkers.

My first reaction was: Duh!

Considering gas prices have skyrocketed by around 50 percent in the past year (remember when gas was ONLY $2.50 a gallon?), it's no surprise people are feeling that hurt the most. And the impact that increase is having on every other part of the household budget - especially food and heating costs - only compunds the pressure.

But as anybody who lives out in the sticks can attest, the pinch is just a little more painful out here. Don't believe me? OK, I'll give you two reasons why we out in the sticks are being hit harder by the increase in gas prices:

1) Take a look at pump prices. Anybody who makes the commute from the western part of the region into Albany or Schenectady can tell you they expect to pay as much as an extra 15 cents a gallon if they gas up at home. I know I only refuel near my home if I have absolutely no choice.

I've heard this difference explained by various "experts" over the years as as the cost of having less competition in rural areas, as well as the result of additional costs to transport the fuel to the stations. That last explanation I find wickedly ironic these days - gas companies are saying they have to raise gas prices because gas prices are going up.

The only time I have ever seen gas prices in my neck of the woods drop below this cities is when two competing chains get into a price war. You think there will be any price wars with prices this high?

2) Many of the people who live in Fulton, Montgomery and Schoharie counties have made the same choice I made: to make the longer commute into Albany or Schenectady to work because of either the relatively cheaper cost of living, the more rural lifestyle or some combination of the two.

When I moved back down to this area from Utica about 18 months ago, I weighed out all the costs and figured that the cost for extra gas and the added wear and tear on my car would about equal the money I would save on rent and other living expenses. That and the fact that I would be living pretty much in my hometown helped me decide to stay out of the city or the immediate suburbs.

Of course, when I moved back down here in November 2006, gas was about $2 a gallon, and the commute was costing me about $30 a week. That cost is about doubled now, adding an additional $120 a month to an already-strained budget.

I initially figured the difference in rent between the rural part of the area and the suburbs or city would be about $250 a month, about twice the difference in gas costs, enough to pay a couple bills or put a few dollars away for a rainy day. That difference has totally been wiped out now.

I can only imagine how the situation is for those who live out here and make the commute out of economic necessity. With unemployment in Schoharie County the highest in the region, it's not like many of us have the choice of deciding to take a job closer to home.

You can blame the high gas prices on whatever you want: OPEC, China, the oil companies, President Bush, the war or whatever. But I don't think there's any doubt it - as well as the war - is a critical factor in the economic mess we're getting bogged down in.

It may seem a bit of hyperbole to say this, but unless something is done to rein in oil prices, recession may be the least of our worries. I was born more then 20 years after the Great Depression ended; I'd hate to have to live through the second one.