record oil prices“…

Prices at the pump have already pierced the $3 a gallon mark in several major cities. And with oil prices setting another record at $71 a barrel, the $3 gallon price tag is likely to spread. (emphasis mine)

Hmm. 71 dollars a barrel. Sounds pretty high, doesn’t it?

*glances at chart of Inflation-adjusted oil prices over the past 60 years*

Waitaminute….how can $71 be a “record” if the inflation-adjusted peak was $97.50? That’s right, it can’t.

Oversights like this would explain why so many of us are ignorant about these kind of things. When the media screams that current prices are the highest they’ve ever been, the average person takes their word for it, figuring that they wouldn’t screw up such an easy story. It’d be bad enough by itself, but the way things are now the price of oil influences how people think about everything else.

tags: , , , , ]]>