About gas...

Let's get a little perspective here, shall we?

Yes, we're going to try to sell our Ford Explorer. We bought it when we thought we were going to be travelling a dirt road daily - but we're not, and the gas mileage sucks. I would love to own an electric car, or a hybrid, or a diesel that has been converted to burn vegetable oil. (As public transportation in this city was the pits last time I checked - I'll look again, but I hold out little hope. However, I'm not going to school and work full time anymore, so my schedule is much less tight - so I could probably deal with a less than abundant bus schedule...)

That being said, I read an article in the Washington Post that brings up an excellent point.

Gas - currently about $3/gallon in the states (has been higher elsewhere for a while, people, and for a good discussion of prices elsewhere, go here.)

Average prices of other popular liquids:
Coca-Cola $1.87
Milk $3.00
Evian water $4.52
Orange juice $5.98
Snapple $6.36
Perrier sparkling water $7.83
Lemon oil $9.31
Crisco oil $10.36
Scope mouthwash $19.98
Sunflower oil $23.12
Olive oil $31.53
Real maple syrup $42.56
Sesame oil $60.37
Jack Daniel’s bourbon $98.41
Visine eye drops $766.72
Flonase prescription nasal spray $5,669.84

(Now, I can't imagine buying Flonase by the gallon, but you see my point here.)

That being said, gasoline is a different animal. When you add in the cost (to people in the United States) of the oil subsidies to Iraq, the war in Iraq, the original Gulf War, etc... we're paying a hell of a lot more for gasoline than the price we see at the pump. If anybody can track down how much of our tax dollars goes to subsidize petroleum in some form, I'd be thrilled. I'll update this post if I can find any info myself.