Steve Hargreaves says Americans should quit griping about gas prices, but adjusted for inflation, a gallon of unleaded gasonline costs less than it did in the early 1980s.

Here’s another statistic the CNN Money article cites:

Moreover, in 1980, the average American had to work 105 minutes to buy enough gas to drive the average car 100 miles… By 2006, the average American needed to work only 52 minutes…

I have some issues with this. The “average American” salary, if we’re talking about the mean, is skewed upwards thanks to salary increases at the top which far outpaced the salary increases of most workers.

Nevertheless, this statistic is still irrelevant. The average commute time has grown since 1980, so even if the number of minutes worked to pay for 100 miles is lower, the number of minutes worked to pay for commutes is higher. Demand increases and prices go up, and demand has not declined as the gas prices increased.

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