Gasoline Prices

Perspective from Dr Williams. Llew this ties into your earlier comments on the MSM.

Nationally, the average per gallon price for regular gasoline is $2.50.
Are gasoline prices high? That's not the best way to ask that question.
It's akin to asking, "Is Williams tall?" The average height of U.S. women is
5'4", and for men, it's 5'10". Being 6'4", I'd be tall relative to the general
U.S. population. But put me on a basketball court, next to the average NBA
basketball player, and I wouldn't be tall; I'd be short. So when we ask whether
a price is high or low, we have to ask relative to what.

In 1950, a gallon of regular gasoline sold for about 30 cents; today, it's
$2.50. Are today's gasoline prices high compared to 1950? Before answering that
question, we have to take into account inflation that has occurred since 1950.
Using my trusty inflation calculator (www.westegg.com/inflation), what
cost 30 cents in 1950 costs $2.33 in 2005. In real terms, that means gasoline
prices today are only slightly higher, about 8 percent, than they were in 1950.
Up until the recent spike, gasoline prices have been considerably lower than
1950 prices.