Thanks for the comparisons. The only aspect of the cost of gas that bothers me is the oil companies profits; they are obscene. Like the failing Detroit automakers before them, they are drowning in their profits, rather than investing in alternative energies that will be so vital to our future.

Current gas costs and scarcity are the future of water. Both have hidden costs that we subsidize in other ways, and BOTH should be more expensive than they are now (epa.gov/waterinfrastructure).

Political and legal battles over water rights rage on, have for years. Meanwhile, Coke, Nestle, and Pepsi have all become a bigtime players in the bottled water industry. Do you buy bottled water now? What does it cost? Who's profiting from it? What social good comes from those profits? It already mirrors what the oil companies have done with gas.