Recession by depression.

• Author: Rundles, Jeff
• Position: RUNDLES [wrap-up]

The news on the gasoline front is, of course, not good. I was in Michigan recently and paid about $4.39 a gallon. Upon returning to Colorado, I actually felt great that I could get it for $3.91. When you feel good about spending nearly four bucks for gas, something is horribly wrong.

A news report over the Fourth of July weekend featured a guy attempting to sell a 1-year-old, $70,000 Cadillac SUV who received a $31,000 offer--all so he could downsize to a more fuel efficient car. You could drive a Toyota Prius for a hundred years and not make back that $40k loss unless, of course, gas doubles in price again. Don't laugh.

And then there's all the gas-card marketing offered by car rental agencies and out-of-the-way vacation spots. A legal brothel in Nevada is offering a $50 gas coupon--roughly the cost of a round trip from, say, Vegas--for anyone willing to partake of the services, starting at $300.

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I heard an explanation of this rather absurd behavior on National Public Radio recently, and 1 think the economist featured was quite correct. It's all an overreaction. Of all the things in our lives we regularly purchase, gasoline is the one where the price and its constant charge screams out from giant marquees on every main-drag corner. And it's directly in front of our face as we stand there and pump those precious dollars into our tanks.

The truth is that our home utility costs, especially in the hot summer months with air conditioning and the depth of winter with home-heating-fuel charges, have probably gone up higher and will cost us more than gasoline in many areas of the country. But it comes in a shocking monthly bill, not something we stare at for several minutes with each fill-up.

The price of gasoline, and the pain it inflicts, is a nearly constant bugaboo, and it seems that no one can avoid a conversation about it several times each day.

There's the rub. The higher price is no fun, we all agree, but the pain comes from the never-ending chatter. That, my friends, isn't economic discomfort; it's psychological distress. It's now the home-front PTSD--pumptraumatic stress disorder.

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Psychology often plays a pivotal role in creating and ending crises. The first time in my life that we had a...