OK so I am going to fire off a little rant that's been bubbling around in my head lately. Feel free to skip.
People are freaking out about gas prices. "OMG the end is neigh!!lolz" It's all over the TV and internet etc etc. Now I hate paying at the pump as much as the next person, but I think it's all relative. Inflation happens. The cost of goods go up. Gas isn't going to stay at $1.50 a gallon forever, no more than milk or bread or any other product stays the same. It may be slightly ahead of inflation, but I don't think so much as some people make it seem. Not to mention cars now are more fuel efficient than they were 20, even ten years ago. I think the shocking part is that you see it every week or so, at the pump, right there in big ass digital read-out, whereas the increase in other product prices seems more subtle. I suppose the problem comes in when American jobs aren't paying enough to keep up with inflation. Again I am not saying I like paying $4 a gallon, just that I think people (media) are making a huge deal about it just to have something to talk about. I do think, however, that we need to do more to reduce dependency on foreign oil and look into alternate methods.
Cliff Notes: Relax, everything gets more expensive. Stay in school.
*I just found this article while trying to find data about cost of gas vs. inflation. Interesting stuff, especially pointing out many of us remember the magical late nineties where the economy was sitting pretty with the dot com boom and whatnot.
Gasoline Prices in Perspective