They are not talking about poor people specifically they are talking about the country on the whole, they are talking about the system:

Car centric country suffers when the basket they put all their eggs in increases in price.

Country. They are talking about the country.

Your analysis is not wrong, but it’s a bit short sighted because it ends with the hurt at the pump. The “plebes” are being hurt by the high gas prices because our system makes them vulnerable to fossil fuel shock. Because the governments of this country have systematically built car dependent cities.