Out Of Gas

High gas prices are old news by now, but there is value in continuing to talk about the subject. When enough people become irate, perhaps that groundswell of anger will prompt our leaders to work harder to bring us some relief. In another sign of the impact of high gas prices, data released last week indicated that Americans are driving less. Miles driven fell 4.3 % for the month of March, when compared to last year. This represents the first decline since the last major oil crisis in the late 1970's. According to the Department of Transportation, Americans drove 11 billion miles less in March 2008 than a year earlier, the first time estimated travel on public roads fell in March since 1979. We did not learn our lesson 30 years ago, and begin to ween ourselves off of foreign oil. Think of where we would be today if in 1979, a commitment was made to build up U.S. reserves, build refineries, and increase the MPG of the average car. So the question is if and when we get through this oil crisis, will we have learned our lesson? Will things just return to the old status quo?

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