How you view things depends not only on what you look at, but on where you are looking from. Perspective matters.
Take the price of gasoline, for instance. To Abigail, my daughter, the price of gas is irrelevant. She does not own a car. Living in Madison, Wisc., she walks or uses public transportation to get where she needs to go.
Warden Publishing Co. currently owns eight vehicles. In June of 2025, we spent $1,145 on fuel. This June the total was $1,465, an increase of approximately 25 percent. That’s a big jump.
For our local farmers who use diesel in their trucks and tractors, the rise in fuel prices over the last year is devastating.
The price of crude oil makes up a little over half of the price of gasoline we pay at the pump — 51.4 percent. Today the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI or NYMEX) crude oil is around $92.41.
In June 2008, crude oil reached a high of $139.96 per barrel during George W. Bush’s presidency. The low during the 21st century was $19.23 in April 2020 during Donald Trump’s first term as president.
During President Barack Obama’s administration (Jan 2009–Jan 2017), the price of a barrel of oil was above $100 for 15 months. This was before inflation. The highest, under Obama, $106.57, was August of 2013.
Other cost components of gasoline are distribution and marketing (17.8 percent), federal and state taxes (16.6 percent), and refining costs and profits (14.3 percent).
Today the average price of gasoline in Missouri is $4.19 per gallon. Just a year ago, we were enjoying prices around $3.07 per gallon. After hitting a high of $5.01 in June 2022 (average for the U.S.), $3.07 was a great relief. It was getting so close to $2.99 you could smell it.
Do you ever wish for the “good old days?” When I started driving in 1975, gas was around $0.65 per gallon. That was after price increases generated by the OPEC oil embargo of Oct. 1973 to March 1974.
Since 1975, we have had a little thing affecting our economy called inflation.
There is a website called www.usinflationcalculator.com/gasoline-prices-adjusted-for-inflation/.
On that site, you can type in a year — starting with 1978 — and see what the price of gasoline would have been, adjusted for inflation.
The calculator shows that $0.65 per gallon in 1978 would be $4.51 in today’s dollars. In 2016 the average price of gasoline in the U.S. was $2.20 per gallon. After inflation that comes to $4.21.
The site includes a chart showing gas prices from 1978 to 2022 adjusted for inflation. It reveals that the average price remains relatively stable. The lowest year was 2020, with 2002 being the highest.
As with everything, perspective matters.
Another viewpoint is to remind ourselves what citizens in other countries pay for fuel.
According to www.globalpetrolpricers.com, our neighbors to the north in Canada, are currently paying $5.64 per gallon for gasoline. It goes up from there:
Mexico — $6.21
Poland — $7.88
U.K. — $8.69
France — $9.32
Italy — $9.34 (That’s why everyone there drives a scooter.)
Switzerland — $9.84
Germany — $9.87
Hong Kong is the most expensive place to buy gasoline. — $16.71
Of course, around 43 countries have lower petrol prices than the U.S.; you just need to move to places like Russia, Libya, Iraq, or Saudi Arabia.
Another perspective is “what if”: What if Iran acquired the ability to build their own nuclear weapons? Chances are they would use it to attack Israel.
The oil market, sensitive to geopolitical tensions and fears of supply interruptions, would see immediate price spikes. In that scenario, gas prices could double overnight.
Note: All this perspective doesn’t mean I don’t think prices are too high. I want them to drop just as much as you. I just don’t complain about it as much. After all, after inflation, I’m paying less for a gallon of gasoline than in 1975 when I first felt the freedom of driving a 1972 Vega Kamback.
