You can't vote down the price of gas.

The US of A has attempted to vote down the price of Oil before. This is not really feasible in our capitalist system without going in hock to Big Oil politically. I would expect the price could be brought down, but at the expense of other interests. In the mean time, we don't have refineries enough for the oil we are already pumping world-wide. If we pumped more oil, refining capacity would still keep the prices artificially high. If we actually found a convenient NIMBY to build some in, they would need to pay for themselves. Cheaper gasoline would not make new refineries economically feasible. Further they would need to amortize their cost over 30 years, committing us to at least 30 more years of an oil based energy economy. That being said, there is supposed to be oil off the East Coast of Florida which we will not drill because an oil spill there would ruin a tourist industry. There is also a new oil field called the "Jack" oil field in the Gulf of Mexico, but the drilling rigs to drill for it are already running at full capacity elsewhere and are not available. Economically this tells me that Big Oil has either not been re-investing enough, or has given too much away in bargaining for lower prices in the past. It is to be understood that high oil prices are inflationary. They affect every aspect of production from electricity to transporation and manufacture. THE ONLY REASON I know of to do what is necessary TO BRING DOWN THE PRICE OF OIL IS HUMANITARIAN. High gasoline prices make the green alternative attractive. Lowering the speed limit is easier to do politically than raising it, but far less popular. If the price of gas is actually that high, people will VOLUNTARILY drive slower to save gas. Truckers, who are more sensitive to this issue than possibly any other industry, would be the first to voluntarily slow down to 55.