For obvious reasons, gas prices are a hot topic around here lately. However, it seems that a very important element has been missing from the debate- especially in a place as diverse and progressive as Daily Kos. Aside from the excellent posts by
Jerome a Paris, where's the world view? Check out my old, outdated, but incredibly relevant chart below the fold...
That's from a 2005 CNN story on gas prices. A lot of these numbers are higher now, but I can't find an up-to-date chart because this angle is nowhere in the news. I've heard people in England are paying around $7.00/gal US for gasoline. If true, that puts them almost 2.5x higher than the average here, and yet, Americans are complaining so loudly, that even progressives like Rep. Louise Slaughter are capitulating. And Kossacks are making desperate pleas left and right.
Oil is obviously very valuable. It bothers me on a deep, deep level that what is arguably the world's most valuable commodity drives even the most progressive Americans to demand artificial low prices, at the expense of everyone else on this planet- not just in dollars, but in blood, and freedoms, and all the other things that we hold dear, besides the slick black gold.
Food for thought.