Think $2.90 for Gasoline Is High? Try $5.17

(CNSNews.com) – A conservative market analyst on Wednesday said that the current national average of $2.90 for a gallon of gas isn’t hurting American families any more than the 29 cents per gallon that gas cost more than 50 years ago.

Adjusted for inflation, a gallon of gasoline would have cost about $1.76 per gallon in 1955, but that’s not a complete analysis, Jerry Taylor, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, argued.

Taylor said per capita household income increased at a much faster clip over the last five decades than the price of gasoline. As a result, using the inflation and income adjustments, the current average gallon of gas that costs the consumer $2.90 would have cost closer to $5.17 per gallon in 1955, Taylor said.

Taylor released the data during a panel discussion in Washington, D.C., hosted by the Business and Media Institute (BMI). The BMI is a division of the Media Research Center, which is also the parent organization of Cybercast News Service.

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