We Americans are so spoiled. We seem to feel that cheap gas is a Constitional right or something.
It is an inherited thing though. Our parents and grandparents created the car culture that we grew up with and we know nothing about hard times, economic depression or fuel rationing during war.
And now the cost of our gluttonous ways are catching up to us and instead of finding ways to reduce our dependance on oil we bitch and whine about the costs and how its taking money out of our pocket. Money that we probably would have spent on some trivial something.
Americans have more disposable income now than ever. The downside to that is that we have not learned how to manage our money. Easy come, easy go. If hard times, real hard times were to hit, many of us would be in serious, serious trouble.
I saw an article the other day that showed that Americans spend less on gas now than in the early 80's, when you take in the rise in income verses the inflation rate of gas prices.