As food and gas prices rise, consumers are modifying their buying behavior. That’s the normal ebb and flow of the economy as reflected in changing supply and demand for products and services. Simply put, needs and wants change as economic circumstances change, whether up or down. If we could only get elected officials to use this needs-versus-wants analysis as they put together state and local budgets, we’d all have more money in our household budgets. We’d also have less tax hikes if this fiscal discipline was imposed by public officials on tax dollars, as it is by consumers on after-tax dollars.