Everyone's talking about the high price of gasoline, and it is indeed higher in raw dollars than ever. But there's always a couple of different ways of looking at things. One of the most intriguing is a chart I've linked to on several other occasions that was put together by a fellow named Stuart over in Texas.
He's kept up with his gasoline receipts for 992 fill-ups, from April 1979 to July 26 of this year. Here's the graph, and as you can see, although gasoline prices have been trending upward since 1998, the actual cost as adjusted for inflation would be about the same as a gallon purchased in 1979 before the big spike in 1980, or about the same as the spike during 1990. Not to say that it won't go higher, obviously it can. But while it sounds horrible, it's not quite the worst shape we've ever been in.
Posted by Terry Oglesby at August 12, 2005 02:14 PMMy husband was guesstimating that this is the case. I'm sure he'll be happy to see that he's right!
Posted by: Lenise at August 12, 2005 02:58 PMJust remember, your mileage may vary.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at August 12, 2005 03:03 PMThank you, Thanks you! I was telling a couple of guys at lunch today that gas prices were about even with historical levels and they looked at me as if I had lost my mind. Now they will have to admit my superior intelligence...or not.
Here is an interesting webpage: http://www.alabamagasprices.com/
Posted by: Larry Anderson at August 12, 2005 03:30 PMWell, at least you'll have the satisfaction of knowing they know it, whether they admit it or not.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at August 12, 2005 03:43 PM