I just heard on the radio on the way home from the store that Diesel prices in the UK are now over $10 per gallon — over half of which is taxes! Trucking companies are naturally going nuts, calling for the government to provide some kind of relief since the majority of the cost is directly controlled by policy. Thousands of people could lose their jobs there if something isn’t done quick — and I wouldn’t especially predict government action to be very quick (though, that’s an American perception perhaps).
This reminded me of some of the “petrol” stations in Kenya during my visit — the signs only had 2 number places (not including the “99″ cent section that never changes) and prices were already up to 89.99 and 99.99. This was in Kenya shillings, though, which then was about $1 = 65 KS. Plus, the increment was per litre. Still, there wasn’t any more room on the signs if prices went higher than that.
That last paragraph might make a good math problem. Leave it up to me to excite schoolteachers (and/or torment dozens of classroom students) accross the world by coming up with real-world math problems =P
