[Aloys]

We are still better off than the Brit`s, I paid 5,20 USD for the gallon one hour ago...
We had the same situation you decsribe in that thread starting here about 10-15 years ago. Despite all the reactions of us customers prices went up continously, strongly helped on by state taxes of now about 2/3th of the whole cake! About 50% of the gas-stations were closed in the last 10 years, only the BIG ones are left over. We were told that the spot-price in Rotterdam made our gas-price, it was calculated in USD an the USD was high.When the EURO came into the game and went up and the USD down, prices did not drop. Now were told that the gas-hungry US and hard winter there would keep the prices up.. This all lead to the production of cars using less gas. The average family-car in Germany with about 1800-2000cc and 60-95 hp uses about 7 litres, 2 gallons per 100 kilometers.
I strongly believe that this will be your long future too.