According to Reuters, "Gasoline is now about … about $1.33 less than it was at a record peak in July."

A dollar thirty-three cheaper?

Wait. I thought gasoline prices (and the underlying price of a barrel of oil) was the precursor of housing prices collapsing. People had to choose between filling the tank of their Humvee or paying their mortgage and, as the old saying goes, "You can sleep in your car, but you can't drive your house" a fill-up at the neighborhood Exxon won out.

Next thing you know Lehman Brothers is sleeping with the fishes and AIG is cutting back on its "retreats" from 6 to 5 star resorts.

As long-time readers know, my main source of transportation is a 1999 Land Rover Discovery which gets about 15 miles per gallon. It has a 25 gallon tank.

Assuming I waited until the "STOP AT THE NEXT GAS STATION,YOU IDIOT" light came on (which long experience tells me happens when there are about four gallons left) on July 14, 2008 (when premium fuel averaged $4.28 a gallon) it cost just 12 cents shy of $90 to fill the Mullmobile.

Ninety bucks.

As of last week, the average price of a gallon of premium was $3.11 meaning it now costs just north of $65 to fill the aging beast, a savings of $25 per tankful.

Very few of us actually purchase a barrel of oil. The only reason we ever cared about how much oil cost was because we knew it would have a direct impact on how much it cost to fill our tanks.

As I type this on Sunday night, CNBC is reporting that a barrel of oil on the NYNEX is selling for $64.07. This is down from its high of $147 a barrel in July.

Hold it. Just a second. Let me understand this. When oil was $147 a barrel I was paying $4.28 a gallon at the pump. Why is it, now that crude oil has dropped to $64 I am paying 3.11? Continued...