The Wall Street Journal-20080128-Stop Moaning About Gas Prices- Have Perspective

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Stop Moaning About Gas Prices! Have Perspective

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Your editorial, "We're All Keynesians Now," (Jan. 18) indicated that Americans see the price of gasoline as an important issue facing them. When looked at in terms of the "real" cost of driving over the last half century, this tells us a lot more about how wimpy a nation we are becoming than about the cost of gasoline.

In 1960 cars got an average of just over 14 miles per gallon and gas cost around 31 cents per gallon, making for a cost per mile driven of about 2.2 cents. Today with gas around $3 and cars getting an average of 22 miles per gallon, it costs nearly 14 cents per mile to drive. But from 1960 to 2006 consumer prices went up around seven times, which means that 2.2 cents in 1960 now equates to more than 15 cents.

Virtually nobody talked about "high" gas prices in 1960. Today, alas, that is all we hear from all too many people, even though driving is actually cheaper.

Richard West

Washoe Valley, Nev.