And that, of course, was my point.
Working at McDonalds as a kid gave me sensitivity to something I noticed that lasted for about another 25 years: the price of a Big Mac and the price of a gallon of gasoline were always about the same, within a few pennies, all through the '80s and the '90s; I don't know about today.
I think that the price of energy basically drives the entire economy. It's the bedrock reference point on which everything else depends.
I think Robert Heinlein spoke of a currency based on the price of energy.