Give ‘er some gas

Gas pump gauges lately have looked a bit too much like roulette

wheels: Round and round they go, where they stop, nobody knows. At

$2.20 or more per gallon, the price line at the pump has been

spinning faster than, well, our heads, at least.

Prices by this weekend have dropped a bit, with regular unleaded

south of $2, finally. But in the meantime, apparently, the jump in

petrol has “jump-stopped” sales of some SUVs.

Newport-Mesa auto dealers earlier this month reported mixed sales

results for large vehicles -- the ones with gas tanks big enough to

tick a full tank toward the $100 mark. Nationwide, according to

consumer industry analyst Power Information Network, the trend is

more dramatic, with SUV sales weak compared to other cars and trucks.

No real surprise that we’d show more resistance than other parts

of the country, given our reasonably high disposable incomes. We

wonder, though, if there’s a magic number that might be even too much

for us to take. $2.50? $3?

And what might push us all to hydrogen fuel cells? Perhaps a firm

lecture from the governor.