39 million reasons why $3 gas may change America

Just how big a deal is $3 gasoline? For those with six-figure household incomes it’s an annoyance, but little more. Evian spring water goes about $6.80 a gallon when purchased in one-liter bottles.

For those in the tap-water brackets, the situation is a bit different. For many of the 39 million households making less than $30,000 a year, the difference between $2 gas and $3 gas is the difference between spending 10% of income on gas and 15%. In a word: Ouch!

It’s hardly surprising, then, that politicians from President Bush on down to local legislators are popping up with quick-fix proposals. Bush’s plan to suspend deposits into the National Petroleum Reserve and to push for more lenient pollution standards would have little impact. Just as useless are calls for a tax on oil company profits and the partisanfinger-pointing of many in Congress.

It’s easy to chalk this up as the inevitable political posturing that follows economic stress. But it is also perhaps the most visible measure of the inability of the nation’s leaders to speak the truth about long-term problems