Next time you drive by the pump and sob at $4 gas, think about how people in other countries must feel: in Europe, the average is more than $8 a gallon; in Aruba, it’s $12.03 and in Sierra Leone it’s $18.42.
If you’re really itching to move, consider Venezuela, where it’s 12 cents a gallon. Or Saudi Arabia at 45 cents.
But the numbers don’t take some things into account: the falling value of the dollar, the differing salaries in countries and so on.
In Europe, the trade-off for the gas prices is cheaper health care and higher education, which is paid for partly through gas taxes. Europe also sports a better public transportation system.