We Need To Stop Celebrating High Gas Prices

After months of $5 gasoline, people are staying pretty active on social media highlighting the gas stations that are selling fuel in that $3 category. While it's a step in a good direction and a small relief from ridiculous for the household budget, it's still much higher than normal... but is this just the vicious cycle we're repeating once again in America?

If you look at the almanac of gas prices, it stayed relatively stable for decades leading up to the turn of the last century. I started driving in 1999 and still think anything over 99¢ is high, but that's a pretty normal trait for most people. After 9/11 gas started to rise to see a peak at $2.40-ish per gallon around 2005-2006.

As time went on, it came back down to a new normal of $1.70 on average in this part of the country, but it was still higher than normal at the time and that's just how things work in this country.

The Old Razzle-Dazzle Rope-A-Dope

Aside from electronics, I'll bet you can pick almost anything in your home and remember it being much cheaper in past. I like to use the historical comparison of egg prices. In my short adulthood, a dozen premium-grade eggs once cost just over a dollar. I've also purchased the same eggs from the same brand during times of inflation for over $5/dozen. Every time this happens the price sharply rises and meanders back to a new normal.

The current price for my preferred eggs is $3.18/dozen and I'm thankful they're no longer above $5... classic inflation.

When prices soar and the country suffers, we tend to be thankful and glad when things become more attainable again, but things never return to normal. Instead, we're handed a new normal, and life goes on.

It's a Trap

Take a look at the vehicle market in America right now. We blame the pandemic for the hyper-inflated price of new and used autos, but the automakers orchestrated this themselves by refusing to keep up with modern microchip technology. New vehicles became rare, dealerships panicked, and used vehicles that once sold on the high side at $10,000 now sells for $30,000...

While we all hoped it was a limited-time rare occurrence in the history of modern man, this trend has become a new normal.

Even though gas prices are cheaper in this part of the country, time will tell if they ever shrink back down to the pre-pandemic/inflation/Ukraine/Russia/energy independent USA prices. If I were a betting man, I wouldn't take odds on it happening, but I've been wrong before. We can only hope for the best.