Gas Prices

Gas prices in the US are exactly like every other product you've ever bought, except for two key aspects. 1: it's not made in China for 2 cents a unit, and 2: our culture has made us 100% dependent on it. But just like everything else in this capitalist economy, it's all based on supply and demand. I'm no economist or analysis expert, but it's really pretty simple: if you keep buying the Hummer instead of the Smart ForTwo or a Honda Civic, prices keep going up. Back in the 40s, gas was 15 cents for a gallon, and the price has probably inflated more than any other product since then, because we kept buying it at the same rate, just accepting it.
So when gas goes up to 2.00/gal, and we are still ok with it, and keep buying it, the price continues to go up, until people stop buying, or buy less, which is what happened when gas got to about $3.50/gal. Now that the national average is somewhere around $4.00/gal, people are starting to think about that $115 worth of gas every few days that they put in their Suburbans and Hummers. But once these people get rid of their gas-guzzling machines, and settle for something reasonable such as a Honda Civic, which gets about 30mpg, prices go down. People start buying less and less gas, so to keep revenue up, the oil companies have no choice but to lower prices.
But do you know what happens when gas goes back down? "Well shit! I want my Hummer back!" Yes, people take atvantage of the current market, and buy another big gas-waster. And when half the population of the US buys a new SUV, gas goes right back up to $4.00/gal. So it's really a cycle just like every other product, but I do encourage people to buy economic vehicles, if not for the cost-saving benifits, then for the sake of the environment. I own a Honda Civic, and I get between 25 and 37mpg depending on how hard I drive it. I can go about 300 miles on a tank of gas, and at $3.89 in Austin TX, it only costs about $40 to fill up.