Don't Sweat Gas Prices - Forbes.com

Fun fact: A year ago, Exxon Mobil shares were trading 35% lower than they are today. Wal-Mart Stores' shares were trading 35% higher.

A coincidence? Perhaps. But it does tell us a lot about which way the nation's economy is going right now. Resources are shifting. To be sure, there may be other reasons playing into why Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people ) has fallen, but overall, investors are betting that consumers will be spending on expensive gasoline now, and expensive heating oil and natural gas this winter, instead of plasma TVs.

All we have to do is look at the consumer confidence numbers--the worst monthly plunge in 15 years, since 1990 when we were in the midst of a recession and the first Gulf War.

So, should you worry? I wouldn't. Not long term, at least. We've been here before, we'll be here again. And we'll survive.

Remember when gas prices passed $1 per gallon? Guess. (Don't read further until you've done that, because I'm going to give it away very soon. A hint, not so very long ago.) How about when they passed $2 per gallon?

Regular unleaded gasoline first passed the $1 mark in September 1979, according to the Department of Energy. Jimmy Carter was president, and two months later Americans were taken hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The next November, Ronald Reagan was elected president because of all these issues. Still, by March 1986, we were back down below $1 per gallon, and we stayed there for three more years.

And $2 per gallon? Nationwide, gas prices passed that threshold in March of this year. That's right, March 2005. Until then, the average nationwide pump price for regular gas had never passed the $2 mark. Six">Don't Sweat Gas Prices - Forbes.com: "NEW YORK - Fun fact: A year ago, Exxon Mobil shares were trading 35% lower than they are today. Wal-Mart Stores' shares were trading 35% higher.

A coincidence? Perhaps. But it does tell us a lot about which way the nation's economy is going right now. Resources are shifting. To be sure, there may be other reasons playing into why Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people ) has fallen, but overall, investors are betting that consumers will be spending on expensive gasoline now, and expensive heating oil and natural gas this winter, instead of plasma TVs.

All we have to do is look at the consumer confidence numbers--the worst monthly plunge in 15 years, since 1990 when we were in the midst of a recession and the first Gulf War.

So, should you worry? I wouldn't. Not long term, at least. We've been here before, we'll be here again. And we'll survive.

Remember when gas prices passed $1 per gallon? Guess. (Don't read further until you've done that, because I'm going to give it away very soon. A hint, not so very long ago.) How about when they passed $2 per gallon?

Regular unleaded gasoline first passed the $1 mark in September 1979, according to the Department of Energy. Jimmy Carter was president, and two months later Americans were taken hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The next November, Ronald Reagan was elected president because of all these issues. Still, by March 1986, we were back down below $1 per gallon, and we stayed there for three more years.

And $2 per gallon? Nationwide, gas prices passed that threshold in March of this year. That's right, March 2005. Until then, the average nationwide pump price for regular gas had never passed the $2 mark. Six"