Think gas prices are high? Try $11 in Turkey

So as oil prices have soared, U.S. gas prices have soared along with them.

Prices for regular unleaded gas have risen from $1.47 a gallon in May 2003 to more than $3.96 now, a jump of nearly 170 percent. In the same period, the most popular grade of gas in France rose by just over 90 percent — a relatively gentle climb.

Americans are driving less — about 11 billion fewer miles in March 2008 than March 2007, a drop of about 4 percent, according to the Schork Report newsletter. It was the first drop in March driving in almost three decades.

In the U.S., presidential candidates John McCain and Hillary Rodham Clinton have proposed suspending the federal gas tax for the summer to give drives some help, although it is not clear whether drivers would actually see much relief.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has urged the EU to cut its value-added tax on fuel.

Nations that produce huge amounts of oil aren't necessarily in better shape.

Russia is the world's second leading producer of oil, but gas there comes to about $3.68 a gallon — about the same as in the United States, where workers earn about six times as much money.

Much of the Russian cost comes from taxes, which run between 60 and 70 percent. Limited refining capacity and the costs of transporting gasoline across the country's vast expanse also push up prices.

Turkey faces similar problems. It costs $11.29 a gallon there, meaning filling up the tank of a midsize car can reach nearly $200 — enough to give up on driving and buy a domestic plane ticket.

It's not that bad everywhere.

In China, government-mandated low retail gas prices have helped farmers and China's urban poor but, in a country struggling with pollution, also have hurt conservation. The Chinese used about 5 percent more gas in the first four months of this year than last.

And in Venezuela, long-held government subsidies and bountiful supplies have made the people think of cheap fuel as a birthright. It's a veritable wonderland for gas guzzlers — 12 cents a gallon. Consumers there are snapping up SUVs.

For solutions to the oil crisis, policymakers in less oil-rich nations are looking to Brazil, where ethanol made from sugar cane is widely available to the nation's 190 million people.

Eight out of every 10 new cars sold there are flex-fuel models that run on pure ethanol, gas or any combination of the two. Ethanol in Sao Paulo is running about half the price of gas, which is $5.67 per gallon.

But those examples are definitely the exception.

"It's been tough. I had to switch to regular gasoline from premium class," said Hiroyuki Kashiwabara, a Japanese worker whose monthly spending on gasoline has increased by nearly $100 over the last couple of months alone. "My salary doesn't change and I can't cut back on my spending on food or anything else."

Jean-Marc Jancovici, a French engineer and co-author of a philosophical treatise called "Fill It Up, Please!" despairs over the developing world's rising thirst for shrinking oil resources.

His answer? To rich consumers, at least, he says: Pick up your bike and "stop being petroleum slaves."

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