I remember the first time I saw a gas station in Europe and was astounded by how cheap it was - until I realized that the price was per liter, not gallon, lol. Duh. Still, though - and while I will wholeheartedly echo the Americans being whiny bitches sentiment (I like the way that was put =) ), don't we drive farther on a daily basis than Europeans do, on average? I have no idea if the difference is enough to balance out or anything, I'm just sayin.

And the increased food prices thing is why I'm going to start frequenting farmer's markets in the summer, now that we finally have a regular one nearby.