why couldn;'t we go back to 50 cent gas ect

[Vintage lover]

First time I put more than $20 worth of fuel into my motorcycle tank was in France, in 1991. IT was a five gallon tank, so less than five gallons. Yeah, it was a bit hard to accept!

Cheers,
Tom

Try a 27.5 gallon tank. I am glad I live where gas isn't TOO bad

 

[BanjoMerlin]

In November of 2001 gas was $0.999 in eastern Virginia. We took photos of the signs because we knew nobody would believe us.

I worked at a Texaco station when I was in high school. Our regular gas was $0.379 per gallon - full service ($5 got you 13 gallons). That was just before gas rationing hit. I bought my own gas at the cut-rate station down the road for 25 cents per gallon - self service. I was making $1.60 an hour.

Not long after that we had to upgrade the gas pumps because they wouldn't go above 49.9 per gallon. They wanted to change to pumps that would go to $9.999 per gallon but the owner said if gas ever got to a dollar a gallon he'd close the place. And he did.

 

[Paisley]

Here's an article explaining gas prices and a chart of gas prices adjusted for inflation.

An even more detailed article on the history of US oil prices: http://www.wtrg.com/prices.htm

 

[TrenchGuy]

Well, I sure would like to go back to the times when everyone wore a suit everywhere, stuff was cheap, gangster meant a gentleman and not some rapper with a pistol tucked in his pants and man had not landed in the moon yet.

We can't change things dramatically, though. Times have changed. We can always wish that we would have lived in the 30's or 40's, but it will never become true. We can't go back to 50 cent gas and all that nice stuff. Also remember that wage was worse back then.

 

[Mike in Seattle]

I was thinking if we are living in a recession why couldn't we go back to 50 cent gas, 10 food items at fast food ect... is it beacuse we make too much money??? as a society.

Sure...but would you be happy with a buck or buck and a half as your hourly pay rate? Of course not, because everyone thinks they're doing better if their salary keeps increasing. A big part of the problem is that people don't always stop and think whether their annual or however-often raises really keep up with the cost of living. Almost everyone wants to pay way less for everything but get way more than what they're currently making.

"Wow! I'm getting a huge tax refund this year!" - people think they're getting a gift back from the government, while in all actuality, they screwed up on their withholding and paid in or had too much withheld from their paycheck than they should have. An interest-free loan to the government...and by the time you get the refund, it's worth less than it was when paid in because it's been eroded by the increased price of things during the period you didn't have access to YOUR money.

 

[Splenahan]

Another thing to consider: Demand
When gas was 50 cents, demand was limited to the US and Europe, with usage eslewhere very limited. Now we have the US, Europe, China, India, Brazil, etc...