Bob van der Valk

Priming the Pump for $20/Gal. Gas: Interview with Chris Steiner

We could be paying $20 per gallon for gasoline by 2050 but we are also going to pay about that amount for a gallon of milk. There was an index tying the price of a Big Mac to a gallon of gas. How many Big Macs does it take to buy one gallon of regular gasolline in 2050? It would be interesting to wake up in the year 2050, like they do in the movie "Back to the Future", and find out how this all played out. I will not be around since I would be 108 by then.

But if you want one example of a country frozen in time, just look at Cuba today. Fifty years after their revolution installed a Communist dictatorship, they have not been able to sustain their economy under the repressive leadership of Fidel Castro. Their transportation is still being done the old fashioned way with horse and wagon hauling goods in from the fields.

Gasoline prices in Havana are about the same as they are in Miami, Florida. I lived in Florida from 1956 throught 1959 and remember paying 20 cents per gallon for gasoline at the Sinclair station in North Miami.

Prices can only be compared to other non-durable goods to obtain a relative value.