[koelling]

The price of gas is actually right on par with minimum wage since 1980. It only seems like it's going up so much because it sat between $1.25 and $1.50 for over ten years, then stayed under $2.00 up until 1999. Just the fact that gas only increased by 33% in a 20 year span was a blessing. Minimum wage went from $3.10 an hour in 1980 to $6.50 an hour in 1999. That means the average pay more than doubled in 290 years while gas hardly went up. From 2000 to 2008, gas fluctuated so much and eventually surpassed the $4.00, so it just seems like it's such a dramatic difference. I used Melissa's chart to determine how many hours the average person had to work to fill up their tank in 1980, and then again in 2008. It's less now.