Gas prices only get worse

Era of inexpensive oil is coming to a swift, bitter end, analysts say

How much of a deal would it be to pay 25 cents for a cup of coffee at Starbucks?

How about a quarter for 8 oz. of merlot at dinner?

Now what about that same quarter for a cup of gasoline?

A cup of gas will get a 2,400-pound Honda Fit with four people and luggage from Ala Moana Center to the state Capitol (barring traffic, of course).

Can your latte do that?

Yet, that’s what you get at 25 cents a cup or $4 a gallon.

Investment banker and energy analyst Matt Simmons makes this analogy to illustrate a point: Gasoline, in theory, is cheap.

“I can’t find anything that’s of any value that you can buy for $1 a cup,” says Simmons, a former energy adviser to President Bush. “A cup of motor gasoline is really an unbelievable energy miracle. There’s so much power in such a small volume.

“This is a scarce, invaluable, energy resource.”

One that has been priced unbelievably low for too long, Simmons and other analysts say.

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