One guy's personal history of gas purchase prices is [link|http://www.randomuseless.info/gasprice/gasprice.html|here]. It covers 1979 - present.
IV writes:
So anybody (like BeeP) who stubbornly insists that the "market will adjust" is either lying, or ignoring the increasingly obvious fact that the "market" is being manipulated.
There may be some manipulation on the part of the oil and gasoline companies, but there doesn't have to be for the prices to rise quickly and fall relatively slowly. Prices are, in part, based on expected replacement costs. So they have to have some forward-looking component (and not just be based on the spot price).
Cheers,
Scott.