[yatros from flatwater]

The real answer is that the value of the dollar is falling, which means oil goes up in price when paid in dollars. However, the price of oil in relation to other real commodities has not changed much at all, as reflected in this graph:

Have you noticed that a pre-1964 silver dollar now costs around 25 Federal Reserve Notes? So actually the price of gas has gone down in real terms as a gallon of gas in the early 1960's was $0.25 - $0.35.

[Ramius]

Not really a fair comparison. Oil and gold are both commodities... They are going to move together.