Dr. Bill Connerly writes on his Businomics blog that we are using less gas. Here’s his chart (click to enlarge): He points out that an important thing to know is that time lags are long.

We don’t change the quantity of gas we use easily. It takes a long time, with painful increases in price. So painful that we can no longer adjust to gas prices by spending less on other things.

The result is that we can have very big price hikes while demand seemingly doesn’t react. But give consumers a little time, and they start to react. The chart shows that. The price has probably reacted more in the short-run than it needs to in the long-run. Implication: prices likely to fall in the future.

When are we at greatest vulnerability of high gasoline prices helping to cause a recession? During that period when we are trying to get by without adjusting. We have less money to spend on non-gas goods and services because we’re trying to avoid changes to our processes and equipment. Once we bit the bullet and change, there’s less risk that the high gasoline prices will cause a recession.

Are we out of the woods with respect to a recession? Not yet.

Here are a couple of new articles about man vs. gasoline prices:

Man has to drive to work, but cancels 3,000-mi. car trip

High pump prices don’t stop Vermont drivers.

Get the point here?

$100/barrel oil is not here yet, but traders keep trying — closed at $98.03 today. Only good news here is that pump prices have declined ever so slightly.

Tom Kloza of OPI Speaking of Oil blog blames high price of oil on Europe. He sees those pump prices as nothing more than a “head fake.” Higher pump prices on the way, but not $4 gas any time soon.

Once again the #1 tip for fuel efficiency, mentioned in yet another “Tips to Save the Most Gas” article, is to stop being a leadfoot. Stomping on the gas; slamming on the brakes. Just say no!

It’s a dangerous way to drive, and is hard on your vehicle as well. Smoother driving can save 30-50% depending on the type of car.

Other tips include: carpooling, public transportation, etc. etc.

The latest Lundberg survey, which tallies prices at 5,000 gas stations every two or three weeks, shows gas prices declining by two cents in the past couple of weeks. But, don’t spend it all on that big-screen TV quite yet.

Trilby Lundberg says this is just a blip in prices, and 5-10 cents is on the way to the pump price.

“High crude oil prices have replaced refinery problems as the big gasoline price-change factor,” she said.

NJ at $2.51/gal. has the lowest price at the pump for self-serve regular. Chicago is still the highest at $3.16/gal.

We’re going to fill up now and collect those pennies, whether we need it or not. Jersey is just too far away to be practical for a pit stop.