Look, in 1950, a gallon of regular gasoline sold for about 30 cents; today, it's $3.00. Are today's gasoline prices high compared to 1950? Before answering that question, we have to take into account inflation that has occurred since 1950. Factoring in inflation, what cost 30 cents in 1950 costs $2.80 in 2007. In real terms, that means gasoline prices today are only slightly higher, about 8 percent, than they were in 1950. Up until the recent spike, gasoline prices have been considerably lower than 1950 prices.And the supply problem is partly of our own doing. Large quantities of oil lie below the 20 million acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The amount of land proposed for oil drilling is less than 2,000 acres, less than one-half of one percent of ANWR. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates there are about 10 billion barrels of recoverable oil in ANWR. But environmentalists' hold on Congress has prevented us from drilling for it. They've also had success in restricting drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and off the shore of California. Another part of our energy problem has to do with refining capacity. Again, because of environmentalists' successful efforts, it's been 30 years since we've built a new oil refinery. I don?t want to sound like a tin-foil hat wearer, but I wouldn?t be surprised if the OPEC leaders make "charitable" contributions to environmental groups to assist their efforts to reduce U.S. output. Whew! How?s that for a conspiracy theory? <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />