Big city-dwellers notwithstanding, American consumers may purchase gasoline more frequently than any other item. In fact, according to a 2009 Nilson report, when it comes to credit card purchases, gas is the most frequent purchase. Food, groceries and retail items are also on the list, but when you think about it, it makes sense—most Americans pump their own gas on a very regular basis. 
For many people the price of gas relates directly to their work. Taxi drivers, truck drivers, and the millions who commute by car are directly impacted by fluctuations in the cost of gasoline. For these reasons and many others, we as well as many people in other developed countries are hyper-sensitive to gasoline's price. It is also difficult to think of almost any business, anywhere in the world, whose bottom line is not affected by the price of a fossil-fuel based energy. In other words, if you move anything other than paper the price of gasoline is probably important to you.
Hence, the stir caused by Republican presidential candidate, and recent winner of the Iowa Straw Poll, Michele Bachmann. She asserted that, if elected, she will fight to bring us back to the heady days of $2 per gallon gasoline. It's one hell of a campaign promise.
