From our "Not Exactly News" dept: Even though gas prices are approaching the $3/gallon level here in the D/FW Metroplex of Love, and are higher elsewhere, Americans haven't changed their driving habits.
Um, yeah. That's not a surprise. The growth of the exurbs, the scattering of employment centers, and the dearth of public transport in most US cities makes demand for gasoline most inelastic (as we would have said in ECON202 back in the day).
My job is never going to lend itself to public transportation, even if we had something more than little DART. My clients are all over the place, so I"m going to be in the car regardless. Even if that were not the case, I'm 20 miles from the nearest light rail station, and bus transport is not done here in Frisco.
I"m at Exxon/Mobil's mercy. Not pleasant.
All we can hope for is the rising prices make R&D into alternative economically feasible. In the short term, the oil companies and upstanding individuals like Hugo Chavez, Vladimir Putin, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have us over the proverbial barrel.
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