[EternalVigilance]

I see at least three factors, all working together to cause this:

1. Extremely tight personal finances, virtually everywhere in the country.

2. Rising prices.

3. The increasing use of the internet, which eliminates quite a bit of the need for travel. We’re pretty much all connected, if we want to be, without leaving our front porch.

[RavenLooneyToon]

To the Communists, this is proof that the theory of rising energy costs to unaffordable levels reduces consumption which reduces our dependence while reducing the nations carbon footprint.
They will tout this trend as a great success!
As an added bonus to them, all business will go under because people will have nothing left to spend.
This is so beyond evil.

[Vanders9]

I can think of another one (although it's very connected to your first two). With gas prices rapidly increasing, and personal finances heavily stressed, the MPG rating of vehicles is likely to be higher in the appeal stakes than it has been before. In other words, consumers could be choosing more fuel efficient vehicles, which will lead to a drop in consumption.

I don't know if that is happening or not, but I suppose there must be some stats somewhere on fuel efficiency year on year.