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That's a good point. High gasoline prices may not reduce gasoline consumption very much, but you can be damn sure that they'll reduce consumption of a lot of other things.

As one financial adviser with a radio talk show pointed out a couple of years ago, high oil prices are "counter-inflationary" in some respects because they drive down demand for a whole bunch of different things like consumer electronics, cars, new homes, college education, etc.

When oil was trading over $140/barrel a couple of years ago, we saw huge discounts on a lot of things because demand had dropped precipitously. Huge rebates were offered on new cars, home entertainment gizmos, etc. For commuting, the higher price I paid for gasoline was largely offset by a big discount offered on my monthly parking pass, as so many people stopped driving to work due to unemployment or changing commuting habits.