Consumer Confidential: Gas prices, Dish Network, Warren Buffett

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Here’s your moodily Monday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

-- This we need? Although the economy’s still sputtering, energy experts say we can expect a jump in gas prices this spring. The national average is about $2.70 per gallon at the pump. But petro-pros say that amount will shoot above $3 within coming weeks. Needless to say, that’ll push California pump prices even higher. The reason? Apparently it just happens around this time of year, so here we go. Nice.

-- If you’re a disgruntled cable customer, satellite offers an attractive alternative. And of the two leading providers, DirecTV and Dish Network, Dish typically offers the lower rates. Maybe not for much longer. The chairman of the company, Charles Ergen, says he’s getting tired of being the discount TV service. ‘I hate discounting,’ Ergen said during a conference call with analysts after reporting Dish’s latest earnings. ‘I hate devaluing what we sell. I don’t mind giving away hardware, but I hate discounting the programming that we sell.’ Heads up.

-- When Warren talks, people listen. Super-investor Warren Buffett was on CNBC Monday morning giving his take on the economy. He says things are improving, but slowly, and this is keeping many consumers on the sidelines, which will stifle job growth. Not the most insightful pulse reading of the economic landscape, but a pretty spot-on analysis of the situation. ‘It’s getting better, but at a very, very slow rate,’ Buffett said. At this point, I’ll take any dollop of optimism with my morning coffee.

-- David Lazarus