Adjust for inflation!

You no doubt might have stumbled across the news bite declaring that light sweet crude oil closed above $60 for the first time in history and that this will no doubt lead to the highest prices seen at the pump in a while. You might be surprised that crude has actually closed higher in recent history. Once again, the mainstream media has decided to replace insighful rational news with sensationalism. (And I'm referring to the more analytical CNBC specifically.) Browse this page and click on the unfortunately terribly rendered chart to note that Americans payed more at the pump around 1980, when crude traded around $95 in 2005 dollars, or over 150% of the current price. This page shows we are still around 70 cents away from paying the most we've ever payed at the pump. (The second chart hasn't been updated for a while.)

One cannot make a hyperbolic claim about prices, revenues, or profit without adjusting such values for inflation. Please remember this the next time some mainstream media outlet wants to grab you with news about film box-office revenues or gas prices. Chances are they have not done the research of the math beyond something cursory.

Speaking of box-office revenues, this site demonstrates that Gone With The Wind remains the top domestic box-office draw nearly 70 years later.