Investors supposedly were spooked by rising oil prices yesterday, but a glance at the chart below could make one wonder why they weren’t just as spooked last Friday and on Monday, when crude quotes first brushed against the $60 threshold. Wall Street denizens must have missed the previous day’s interview of Andrea Mitchell, aka Mrs. Alan Greenspan, on Imus in the Morning. “No one expected $60 oil to have no impact on the economy,” the NBC reporter told Gotham’s number one shock jock, presumably voicing sentiments shared by her husband. “It’s a demand shock and not a supply shock, and people are happy to pay and keep going.” Reading between the lines, one could plausibly infer that the Fed is not as worried about rising gas prices as the average motorist.

Not that the prospect of paying $2.50 for a gallon of regular this summer has kept me awake. The effect on my household has been muted so far and comes down to this: “Honey, why don’t you take the little car?” But I have to admit, if gas prices in the U.S. were to rise to levels comparable to Germany’s – about $6 a gallon now, I am told – I might not be so blasé. “Honey, if you’re only going to Safeway, could you please take the Schwinn?”

Even in Boulder...

No way to preserve peace in the household for sure -- even here in Boulder, where those who ride bikes to work are viewed as local heroes. Some serious biking goes on hereabouts, for sure, and if you drive anything bigger than a Subaru Outback you’re considered a fat cat. Fortunately, for trips into town, I’ve got an eight-year-old Nissan compact that puts out about as much torque as an arthritic hamster’s treadmill. Just the car for outings to the soup kitchen, if things ever get that bad.

Some of my colleagues think the DJIA and the price of gold will cross someday. We can only hope that the price of a tankful of gas doesn’t trisect this hard-to-imagine number, whatever it turns out to be. If Bob Prechter is right, the “good” news for motorists is that the Dow could be trading well under 1000 at the time. Start stockpiling Krugerrands now and you’ll be good to go.