Can you believe these gas prices?!

In the United States for the last few years, the all-purpose topic of conversation, second only to the weather, has been the price of gasoline. If I had a dollar for every time I heard a complaint about the price of gas during 2006, it would probably fill my tank for a year.

Right now, gas prices in Illinois are hovering around $3.00/gallon. The summer I turned 16, it cost me less than $1.00 to put a gallon of gas in my little Mazda Miata. By the time I went to college in 2000, the price per gallon was up around $1.50. At the time, that seemed outrageous. Since then we've watched the price steadily rise, wondering how long it would take to hit the next full dollar.

I started traveling internationally about the time the topic of gas prices became popular fodder for the dinner table, barber shop, and any other place people would gather. After visiting a few different foreign countries and starting to pay more attention to international news, I realized that as much as Americans complain about the price of gas, they're still paying significantly less for it than motorists in the rest of the world.

I've been in Korea for two months and I know plenty of people who drive cars, trucks, and SUVs. They're gluttons for punishment. They'll spend hours fighting bumper to bumper traffic to get to work in the morning using the same route that takes me less than half the time using public transportation. While all those vehicles are sitting motionless along an expressway that looks more like a parking lot, their engines are guzzling around $5.00/gallon worth of gasoline. I recently reported a news story saying Koreans are projected to invest in even more new cars in 2008, but in the two months I've been here, I've only heard one mention of gas prices. Earlier this week, Sophia told me it costs her around $100 to fill her modest, economy-sized car with gas.

So, the next time you start to complain about gas prices, think about the South Koreans . . . or consider moving to Venezuela where the current price per gallon is a whopping $0.14.