This graphic says it even better

$5 per gallon now a reality

Self-serve regular gasoline is advertised at one-tenth of one cent less than $5.00 per gallon, with mid-grade and premium well over that mark, at a filling station in Arcadia, Calif., Friday, June 6, 2008. Oil prices shot up more than $11 to a new record above $139 per barrel of crude after Morgan Stanley predicted prices would hit $150 by July 4. (Mark J. Terrill / AP)

I hear a lot of people talking about $5 gas by the end of the year - well, I've got news for you - $5 gas is already here. So let's start revising our estimates for the prices by the end of this year. Do I hear a 6? anyone?

Probably the best index of the real impact of gas prices on standard of life

You've gotta read this one -

"The S/W FI is generated by measuring the consumer-cost of a gallon of gasoline against the hourly minimum wage, multiplying that by the fuel efficiency of the average car (expressed as a constant) and expressing the result in miles."

Chris Kelly is no economist but this probably explains things a lot better than the inflation linked indexes that economists come up with that explain away the impact of higher gas prices by using a mix of inflation, increase in wages in dollar terms and so on.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-kelly/sw-fi-freedom-index-hi_b_48226.html