I paid a bit more than $4.51 a gallon today to fill up my car... and that was a bargain. Most of the gas stations in my neighborhood are charging close to $4.65 per gallon for premium, which is what I need for my car. Regular is about $4.35 per gallon at most stations.

So far, I am not cutting back on my driving -- and I really can't. That's life in LA. But eventually prices will be high enough that I will have to cut trips or consolidate them if for no other reason but disgust.

I will have a very hard time paying $5 a gallon for gasoline.

How about you? At what price do you cut back? At what price do you get disgusted with the whole mess?

By the way, my very first TV reporting job was in Syracuse -- and my very first story was about a traveling salesman who could not make ends meet because the price of gasoline had just reached FIFTY CENTS A GALLON. That was December 17, 1973.

This week... at the end of February 2012... the price of premium gas at my corner Shell station when up by FIFTY CENTS A GALLON.