Why does gasoline cost so much? The price has reached a point where the consequences are being felt by almost everyone.

It is not just the shock of putting $50 to $90 out for a single tank of gas; the price of energy is beginning to cycle through the economy.

It takes fuel to raise crops. It takes fuel to deliver food. It takes fuel to heat and air condition our homes. The real bad news is that these prices have not yet fully been borne by the American public. The burden on our economy has not yet been fully felt.

Everyone seems to have their favorite theory as to why the price of gasoline is so high. The left in America have gone back to their knee-jerk conspiracy nonsense. You see, "big" business is out to steal all it can from the poor and the "hard working" people like you and me.

The Bush-blew-up-the-levee-and-is-destroying-the-country crowd blames Bush. He and his "big business buddies" are out to destroy the nation for their own benefit. I'll be the first to admit that we essentially have no functioning federal government, but blaming politicians is problematic.

Compare the price of gold, the dollar, and gasoline from the time Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid took power, with the six years of the Bush presidency before that. If you are a Bush hater and think the Democrats are going to save us, you may not want to do this little exercise.

So why does gas cost so much?

There are numerous reasons. First, the world has changed. People across the globe are getting richer, which we always thought would be a good thing, and they can demand more oil.

Second, oil is getting more expensive to develop. Third, we have no national will to develop our own energy sources. Those who have turned environmentalism into a religion, those who believe that the world is dying because of excessive human consumption, utopians, those who fear alternative energy, busybodies, and those who believe in Santa Claus economics all have one thing in common: They all would prefer that we live differently, which makes them actively hostile to cheap gas, or ambivalent enough to do nothing.

This will change when the full impact of energy inflation hits Americans hard.

There is a fourth reason, probably the most important in the short run.

The American dollar's value has fallen through the floor. If we adjusted the value of the dollar, relative to the Euro, to its value in January 2002, the national cost of gasoline this week would be $2.25. Today, the average is $4.08.

If you used gold to buy gasoline, the current price of gasoline compared to 2002 would be about $1.30

The historical price of gas adjusted for inflation has been consistent for decades at about $2 a gallon in 2002 dollars. Our current price is the impact of allowing the dollar to become close to worthless.

Why has the dollar's value dropped? Traders around the world have become worried about the health of our economy. Part is due to the subprime rate "crisis," and other problems, but most is due to governmental policy.

The feds have dropped interest rates relative to other countries, which has made it more costly to hold American dollars. The federal debt is now close to $9 billion, and that number is more propaganda than reality. Our national debt is roughly equal to the entire GDP of Germany. Oh, plus Great Britain, France, and Canada all combined.

Our national debt is larger than the entire GDP of China. In other words, if you took everything that is "Made in China," all their development costs, everything they spend on their military, and added it all up, the value would not pay off our national debt.

Our dollar is based on nothing but the federal government's ability to pay its debts. Dropping the value of the dollar increases exports, and creates inflation, both of which are very good if you are very much in debt. It is very bad if you want to buy gasoline or retire someday.

So the price of gasoline is largely the tax we all have to pay for bad attitudes and bad management.