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American drivers cutting back from driving at $3 per gallon.

"Gasoline is one of those items that some economists consider "inelastic," that is, people will buy it no matter what the cost. But the recent drop in demand puts that into question, and suggest people will cut out unnecessary trips if they are too expensive."

My own experience with gas consumption coincides with the overall drop in consumption. I am not making much money as an assistant in Hollywood. In October-November I was looking into moving closer to my work and calculating my monthly expenses. I was spending $50 per week on gas commuting at the prices in LA. (Note: The commute was also killing my side activities - writing, exercising, and socializing).

I figured by moving close or super close to work, I'd save at least $100 and maybe up to $150 a month in gas expenses. I factored this into my moving costs and calculated it was smarter to move sooner, rather than later, since the commute was unsustainable for reasons above and beyond mere gas costs. The gas costs, however, provided a monetary incentive to speed up my apartment search.

Up until this year, I never considered the cost of gas. That began in high school when I had a credit card bill that went straight to my parents for gas. This continued in college. In fact, I didn't even pay for gas until I started working in San Francisco, by which time I was making enough money and living at home that my gas costs were nominal. Not to mention the fact that I drove a Honda Accord, a very gas efficient vehicle.

This habit carried over, for good or bad, throughout grad school. I was now paying for my own gas when I was going to grad school or a very limited budget. But I justified any and all of these expenses as a necessarily evil inherent while attending school. In short, it was just part of the cost of business and there was nothing to be done about it.

Only after grad school and working at a relatively low paying job did I start to examine expenses much more carefully because I wanted to get in the black, so to speak, where I was making more money that spending. To a non-entertainment person, the fact this is even an issue will strike them as odd, but it is fairly common practice when getting started in a highly competitive and artistic field.

In doing this, I looked at ways to cut money and by moving to Santa Monica and saving on commuting expenses was one significant way to lop a chuck of money off the top. Not to mention the gain in "side-work" time, crucial to my advancement in this industry.

Now, my gas expenses are super low. I just checked and from 11/20-12/19 I spent $44 on gas. I reviewed 9/21-10/21 and the total was $155. Fairly substantial difference.

Perhaps there were enough people like me around the periphery, like myself, who happened upon a tipping point moment where my gas expenses were going up, I was aware of those expenses, and happened to be in a position to do something about it and by the increased prices had a marginal additional reason to act.

Economics, baby!