RE: Brin: On Gasoline

I think that something is missing in the charts that argue for a great drop
in gasoline.  If you look at the official gasoline consumption chart, it
gives a very different story:

http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MGFUPUS1&f=M

There's been a 10% drop since the peak in 2007, but we're at the 2001
levels.  If you look at the 78-81 drop it was 50^ bigger, and consumption
doesn't hit the 78 numbers until '93 even though prices went through the
floor in '86. And, ethanol has been a highly subsidized substitute, which
should lower gasoline consumption about 3%, even with fuel consumption
constant.  In other words, someone is manipulating numbers. 

Dan M.