The chart below tracks the changes in the average annual nominal (not adjusted for inflation) price of a gallon of gasoline since 1949 (the blue line) and the nominal per person* outlays of the federal government over the same period of time (red line). In each case, the 1949 value = 1.00.
The chart shows the increase in the cost of government has far outstripped the rise in the cost of gasoline – by more than 3 to 1 by 2008, rising to greater than 6 to 1 with the hopeychangey stimulus/budget of 2009.You may notice that the price of gas is fairly constant until the early 70's. So I created another chart that compares the costs with their 1972 levels.
The cost of gasoline spiked between 2003 and last year, when the increase in price since '72 actually passed the rise in the cost of government over that time. Maybe that's why Congress was so outraged last summer - how dare anyone impose greater costs on the American people than they! They've since remedied that problem and gas prices will have to average about $4.28 this year to match the increase in the cost of the federal government. With the year nearly half over and prices hovering in the mid-$2 range, there's not much chance of that happening. So next time the oil company execs are paraded down to DC, maybe they should take the opportunity to get some lessons from the real gougers of the American people - those on the other side of the witness table.* - Population data obtained from: prior to 2000, 2000-2008, 2009 projection derived by averaging the 2008 estimate and the 2010 projection
