Well, it IS a big improvement in the short term, though in the long term we are still paying a lot more than we used to.
Definitely. However, emotional impact is relative. I remember being able to rub a couple of quarters together per gallon of gas. The $1-plus 8 years ago was high compared to what I use to pay, but I (we) got use to it.
Well actually, that dollar per gallon that prevailed during most of the late 1990s and into 2000/2001 was in fact, in real terms, cheaper than your fifty cent gas way back when a hamburger was a nickel or twenty five cents.
Really, it is funny looking back how superlative the 1990s were - practically free gasoline, great old hulking used cars for $500, and I actually paid $85/month rent for a few years there.
