Extrapolation Nation

Two points about four dollar gas: Back when gas was two dollars a gallon, the price went up a penny a crack. At just under four dollars, our providers say, “What’s another four cents?” At this rate we will soon be staying home and letting the Internet do our shopping. This time we seem resigned to the breakage of the four dollar barrier. We’re told the Chinese and the Indians are demanding their share of the gas and we sympathize. Rather than kick and scream, we’re now buying fuel efficient vehicles in serious numbers. Forty miles per gallon has become the new 15. In future, SUV will mean: Smaller, Underpowered, and Vastly-more-efficient.
Point two: speculators are blamed by the politicians for bidding up the price of gas. Are they stupid? The speculators, I mean. Someone’s going to bid $4.10 just before the price falls to $3.90 . It’s a game of musical chairs and someone has to lose big time. Or maybe they insure themselves with default swaps. I think I was invested in those babies in a bad way back in ’08.