Fueling up
Price of gas not at an all-time high
The price of gas is at an all-time high, right? And President Obama is responsible. Well, not really—on either account. The national average price for a gallon of regular actually peaked at $4.09 five years ago in July 2008 when a fellow named George W. Bush was president. Presidential policies have little to do with the price of gas because, according to University of Chicago economics professor Richard Thaler, oil is a global market where America consumes 20 percent of what’s available but holds only 2 percent of the oil reserves. Here is a chart from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics comparing the average price of gas for the month of May over the last decade:
| Year | Price |
|---|---|
| 2003 | $1.542 |
| 2004 | $2.009 |
| 2005 | $2.216 |
| 2006 | $2.947 |
| 2007 | $3.130 |
| 2008 | $3.764 |
| 2009 | $2.265 |
| 2010 | $2.869 |
| 2011 | $3.933 |
| 2012 | $3.792 |
| 2013 | $3.623 |
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