Gas Prices

I've been seeing stories about $4 gas this summer.  It doesn't seem that far off. I'm already paying 3.40 for premium, which is something like 3.19 for regular. (I think the most I ever saw near my house was 4.25 for regular when it peaked a couple years ago.)

I found this interactive chart on gasbuddy.com. It only goes back 6 years, but that's far enough to see when prices first crossed 2 bucks a gallon: a mere 6 years ago. (Granted, I'm assuming it didn't do so earlier, followed by a big drop to get down to where this chart starts.)



(Note that this chart is live, so it's 6 years back from whenever you're reading this.)

Is this worth kvetching about?  That was a rhetorical question.  Here's something that bugs me.  Let's say we get $4 gas by May.  Doubled in 6 years.  But I'm not earning twice what I made at the beginning of 2005.  Heck, looking at today's $3.18 average for Illinois, I'm also not making anywhere close to 1.6 times more. If I really want to disgust myself -- you can decide which part of this equation disgusts me more -- I'll look at what gas prices would be if they increased as much as my salary did since hitting $2 a gallon.  You know, I don't think I could complain if gas had risen all the way to $2.33/gallon.