Prior to the election last November, any article dealing with gas prices carried with it a near hysterical tone (and when I say hysterical, I mean hysterical) and inevitably contained a passage laying some measure of blame on Republicans in Congress. Now that Democrats are in charge, even the prospects of $4 gas merits not a single mention of anything to do with Congress. What’s more, the article actually goes on to give the facts that could have dispelled such hysteria as we saw prior to the election, if only anyone in the media had seen fit to provide them.

When inflation is factored in, Lundberg’s record of $3.07 still trails the all-time high in March 1981. At the time, gasoline cost $1.35 a gallon – and in today’s dollars, that’s $3.13 a gallon, said Lundberg.

Also, Americans earn a lot more now than they did in the early 1980s, so by some measures what people spend now on gas is only half of what is used to be.

In 1980, the average American had to work 105 minutes to buy enough gas to drive the average car 100 miles, David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor’s, said in a study last year. By 2006, the average American needed to work only 52 minutes, thanks in part to better fuel efficiency but mostly due to higher wages.

It’s also worth noting that while $4 gasoline would be a record for American motorists, in Europe it’s common due to high taxes. The average price for a gallon of gas in the Netherlands is over $7, and it’s over $6 in many European countries.

Apparently these things are only “worth noting” when democrats are in charge of Congress.

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