I was just watching a PBS special that featured early color film footage of
the years preceding and early on in World War II. In a segment on gas
rationing, folks were filling up at a pump with a unit price clearly marked
as 27 cents and a fraction. On the assumption that gasoline has been sold in
U.S. gallons in the U.S. for some time, I found a calculator online to
translate that price from 1941 to 2002 (the last year available for cost of
living and inflation adjustment data.)

The price of a gallon of gas today, if gas had followed the same trend as
the vast majority of consumer goods: $3.29.

I guess I'd restate an earlier point in this thread: The price of gas at the
pump is kept purposefully low as a matter of public policy. Hidden costs of
that massive subsidy are billed to us elsewhere, and, politics aside, I'd
bet my van that those costs are going way up in less than six months.

Ed Carroll
87 Weekender