It makes for easy campaign lines but sorry the price of gas is in no way out of line

[RB TexLa]

[link:|

[BiggJawn]

1. That would be OK, if only income followed that line.

Instead of looking like a dead person's EKG.

I recall prices in 1982 around a buck and a half a gallon. That was the winter I often had to ride my motorcycle to work because it got twice the mileage of my car.

[abelenkpe]

6. Wages have flatlined for the past thirty years

But that is not due to anything the Obama administration has done.

[BiggJawn]

18. And I wasn't implying that it was.

Fucking Ronaldus Rex is who started it.

30 years. Started just as I was entering the "adult" workforce, 4 years of good Union factory wages, then <poof> "Would like an apple pie with that?" all over again...

It's on my Bucket List to "share" a beer with the ol' Gipper some day...

[abelenkpe]

25. +1000 nt :)

[TheWraith]

21. No, they haven't. They've been steadily growing up until the last few years.

Like the price of gas, the "wages have flatlined" line is something that's widely believed, but not true. Average wages have continued to increase.

[abelenkpe]

24. ..

CHART: Median Income For Young Adult Males Has Dropped 10 Percent Since 1980
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/11/17/371130/chart-median-income-for-young-adult-males-has-dropped-10-percent-since-1980/?mobile=nc

Tax Cut Lie: Most US Workers Unaffected by Sunset!
http://my.firedoglake.com/waronerror/2010/11/13/tax-cut-lie-most-us-workers-unaffected-by-sunset/


Study Shows Meager Increase in Median Wages Since 1980
http://economyincrisis.org/content/study-shows-meager-increase-median-wages-1980

[Newest Reality]

2. It is relative

If you go by those in the flat, (and diminishing) wages realm, then those statics are not comforting, nor do they soften the blow at the nozzle.

It is the short-term comparison that people feel and that impacts their lives directly, (commuting, going places) and indirectly, (cost of energy for goods and services).

If various services you used all increased dramatically in price and your pay-scale remained the same, at what point would that be out of line?

[Fumesucker]

3. The highest inflation adjusted price since WWI?

Incomes certainly haven't kept pace with gas prices since the 1970's, average income has been essentially flat in inflation adjusted terms since then..

[warrior1]

4. I remember when

Gas was under 50 cent and cigarettes were 25 cents a pack. That was the early 60's.

[liberal N proud]

5. k&r

[Johnny Rico]

7. Not out of line? They haven't been higher (adjusted for inflation) since 1918!

[RB TexLa]

9. What else cost the same as it did in 1918?

Really? Wow?

[Johnny Rico]

14. All sorts of thing were more expensive back in the day.

Just did a quick bit of web surfing. Examples: A decent camera. Adjusted for inflation, it would have cost $1,000 in today's dollars. Today's cost: around $100.

A refrigerator in 1922: adjusted for inflation $9,000. Today: $500

There are plenty of other examples.

[Morning Dew]

8. When I started driving, minimum wage was about $1.60 and gas was about $.30/gallon

so I could get 5 gallons per hour of labor.

With gas at 3.50 and a minimum wage of 7.25, it's down to 2 gallons per hour of labor.

[RebelOne]

30. When I started driving, minimum wage was $1.00 an hour

and gas prices were in the teens. So, I guess I am a lot older than you. Believe it not, that $40 a week went a long way. I paid $90 for four small bags of groceries yesterday that will only last a week. Back then, $90 would have been enough for month.

[mucifer]

10. I just remember with the presidential campaign of george w many on DU were

blaming him for high gas prices. I was hopeful that things would change with Obama as president.

I can understand how it looks like a double standard.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. The difference now ithere is a near oversupply

of crude, where there continues to be stories of tankers parked off coasts and sudden shutdowns of refineries.

Contrast that with W and his ventriloquist Darth who did everything they could to destabilize the oil regions with war-mongering and with the U.S. spending billions and billions trying to fix pipelines that were continually being sabotaged.

In the current era, the rampant-in-your-face speculation began during the 2008 election when lame duck W. wasn't running, and the cause/effect of the high prices through today, is quite different from the early-mid 2000s.

[Vincardog]

11. Since the price of energy is the biggest single factor in inflation I find it disingenuous

to clame the inflation adjusted price is somehow pertinent.

[cbrer]

12. How have Subsidies, and Tax breaks

To Oil Companies rendered these types of analyses basically useless? Pump prices do not reflect the consumer's true cost of gasoline. And the hidden costs change from year to year, making analysis even more complicated.

[Comrade Grumpy]

15. The price of gas is too damn high!

I'm breaking out the bicycle I bought in 2008, last time prices were so high.

[FreeJoe]

16. Gas prices are too damn low

We need to tax gas to make up for the external costs like CO2 emissions and a huge military presence in the Middle East.

[BiggJawn]

19. And our wages are too damn low, too.

How do we fix that?

[pubsrpigs]

17. The Obama is rising the price of gas meme

will be very effective for the majority of Americans who just happen to be low information voters too.

[tkmorris]

20. Your graph illustrates the exact opposite of your premise

[TheWraith]

22. No it doesn't.

The reality is that while gas is at the high end of historical inflation adjusted numbers, it's not out of proportion to other historical periods, particularly during a rough economy.

[Fumesucker]

26. Highest in 90 plus years..

[uponit7771]

23. They are WAAAAAY out of line with demand, not cost.

[Spider Jerusalem]

27. Demand doesn't work that way, I'm afraid

demand may be down in the US; that doesn't mean much when the US is dependent on ten million barrels a day of imported oil. Demand isn't down in China, or India, or Brazil, or in a lot of other places; Saudi Arabia, for example, has annual demand growth of 7% and now uses a million barrels a day, which means that's a million barrels they aren't exporting.

[Romulox]

28. Oil prices are set by a "cartel" called "OPEC", not supply and demand.

It's odd to have to point this out time and again to people who seem otherwise fairly well informed.

[Romulox]

29. The OP seems to have completely misunderstood the chart he posted.

How embarrassing.

[RB TexLa]

31. No I didn't. The price is in no way outragous when adjusted for inflation.

$4 a gallon is more than a fair price for gasoline