Ok, I probably will get some arrows in the back on this one, but, I just don't see the gas prices as a big deal, with any kind of perspective.

In the last 30 years or so, gas has gone up a little more than triple, but, then again, so has household income. (In the US anyway)

The average house cost has gone from about $54,000 back then to, well, you pick a price, but, it's certainly tripled.

A stamp was 13 cents, next months first class stamp is 42 cents.

Eggs were 48 cents, now they're $2.18.

If you were invested, the DJIA closed 1978 at: 805, it's well over 12,000 now. (That's a lot more than triple)

I guess the comparisons could go on and on, but, the difference between the gas prices and the other things is that for a long time, we've been pretty lucky/spoiled in the US with energy that was cheaper than most of the rest of the developed world. I remember travelling through Europe in the 80's and 90's and thinking just that, and they had already shrunk their vehicles into little toy cars by then. (I always hated to rent one of those little deathtraps over there and then be surrounded by folks driving like they were Mario Andretti.)

It was nice while it lasted here in the good ole US of A, but, the recent increases just bring the price more in line with other price increases over time. It has come in a much shorter time than other things, so it's more noticible, and so you get a lot of, well, crying about it. Gas has done this before, and got a lot of notice then too. Gas doubled between 1978 and 1980, from about 65 cents to $1.25+/gallon. That was fun, we had cars back then that got under 10 miles/gallon. The good news is, we had unemployment at almost 7% back then, and inflation was out of control. At least some things have come down since then.

Ok, just figured somebody had to say it. Go back to your regularly scheduled rant

PS: We did have some great things that came out of 1978, for example: The Deer Hunter, Animal House, The Rockford Files, Charlies Angels (the original...you know, Farah, Jacqueline, and the smart one)