Gasoline is what fuels the conspicuous consumption machine and economic redundancy in teh US - just think who profits from auto industry: auto manufacturers, insurance companies, auto repair shops, chemical industry (tires, gasoline additives - see the latest issue of the Nation on that), construction companies (roads, garages), land developers (malls, burbs) and a sundry of small business operators from independent truckers to airport transport mafias. Baran & Sweezy correctly identified auto industry as the heart of monopoly capitalism. Therefore, relatively cheap gasoline is what keeps people addicted to cars, a form of "public" service to collective interests of the capitalist class if you will.
I am pretty sure that udermining autmobile transportation would throw US capitalism into a greater crisis than the Great Depression. Any suggestions?
BTW, I recall reading in some transportation professional journal (forgot the reference) that US is teh only developed country that subsidizes its autmobile transportation "system" from general taxes (if I remember the figures, that subsidy is about 40% of the operating costs). In western Europe, car transport is self-financed, mainly by gasoline taxes. That may explain the diffrence in gas prices between Europe and the US.
wojtek