In 1974 I was in high school. As I remember, gas was about $1.00 per gallon and minimum wage was $1.65 or so. Now gas is $3.50 and minimum wage is $8.00 or so. By this measure it doesn't appear that the cost of gas is out of line. It might be interesting to make similar comparisons to gain perspective. It's easy to blame the big bad oil companies or the evil speculators but the issue is likely more complex.