There have been quite a few suggestions floated around for what the government might do to help reduce gas prices, everything form getting rid of taxes on gas, to tax free gas “holidays” to releasing supplies from the national petroleum reserve.  My original though when gas prices hit 2 dollars a gallon, then 3, then 4 and higher, was that the oil companies should be investigated for price gouging, but that will clearly never happen, but something strange happened once gas got closer to 4 dollars a gallon… the free market system kicked in and things started to change.  No, gas prices did not go down and there was no sudden drive to lower prices in order to attract more customers, there wasn’t even really a rush on the part of the oil companies to streamline production and lower costs, the change was that people began driving less and started to look at getting rid of their sport utility vehicles and trucks in order to purchase fuel efficient cars.  I sold my truck back in 2007 when it seemed like gas was still under 3 dollars a gallon and bought a more fuel efficient car.  Here we are, about halfway through 2008 and already we are seeing signs of consumer change, SUV’s are sitting unsold on car lots all across American, the hardest cars to find are the most fuel efficient, especially hybrids.  In a few short years I believe that most Americans will have given up their gas guzzling ways and turned to more practical modes of transportation - here in Austin the mass transit system has been overloaded with people looking to save on gas has caused some problems with overcrowding.  All major car makers are looking to boost fuel mileage and cut back on truck and sport utility production.  Will gas prices go down?  Probably not, but the American consumer will have adapted to that by changing their buying and driving habits to fit with the higher prices.  Europe has been dealing with high gas prices for years and they adapted by moving to smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles and we will do the same - without the aid of government assistance.