These pictures really say it all....

These pictures really say it all:

The price of full service high octane gas reaches $4.049 dollars per gallon Thursday, April 20, 2006, at a gas station in Beverly Hills, Calif. Oil prices held steady near record highs Thursday after weekly data showed a drop in U.S. gasoline stocks, raising worries that refiners don't have an adequate inventory cushion ahead of the peak summer driving season. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

A gas station lists fuel prices between $3.30 and $4.30 per gallon in San Diego, California April 19, 2006. Oil prices have leapt above $72 dollars a barrel, setting a high-price record for the third day in a row. REUTERS/Fred Greaves

Here in San Jose, California, we're averaging around $3.25 to $3.35 a gallon for the cheap unleaded stuff, while the gas prices have gone up to around $3.60 a gallon for the premium unleaded. These are all self-serve gas station prices--I don't even know where there is a full service gas station in the San Jose Bay Area. Although I'm sure there is at least one or two full service stations somewhere around here. Continuing on:

Cars drive past a gas station sign advertising fuel prices well above $3 per gallon in San Diego, California, April 19, 2006. (Fred Greaves/Reuters)

A customer operates the gas pump at a gas station in San Diego, California April 19, 2006. Oil prices have leapt above $72 dollars a barrel, setting a high-price record for the third day in a row. REUTERS/Fred Greaves

And finally:

A filling station ran out of gas today in Philadelphia, Pa. Spot shortages are predicted through out the region as refineries switch to ethanol-based fuel ahead of a May 5th deadline. Jeff Fusco/Getty Images

See The New York Times for the story on gas shortages.

I also found this little chart, comparing gasoline summer prices with projected 2006 price forecasts--I think they are a little off back then:

Chart compares U.S. regular gasoline summer prices in 2005 and 2006 forecast, by region. (AP Graphic)

And what is our president saying about our pain? Consider this from Yahoo News:

SAN JOSE, Calif. - As oil prices hit a record, drivers worried about $3-a-gallon gas and politicians feared the impact on elections, President Bush on Friday acknowledged the pain but seemed resigned to being able to do little about it.

"I know the folks here are suffering at the gas pump," the president said while promoting his competitiveness initiative at the Silicon Valley headquarters of Internet networking company Cisco Systems Inc. "Rising gasoline prices is like taking a — is like a tax, particularly on the working people and the small-business people."

But to address the immediate problem, Bush offered only a pledge that "if we find any price gouging it will be dealt with firmly."