re: Price of gas
It's funny. I spent a lot of time some years back listening to the Enlightened telling me how much better things would be if we paid as much for our gas as Europe did.
Of course, the key to that was huge taxes on the gas, not profits to the oil companies. Ripping the guts out of low income gasoline buyers is just fine as long as the State gets the loot, not some private company.
And of course, it would be wisely spent as the government always wisely spends. Probably on a multi-billion dollar Ted Stevens project to run cars on moose crap.