While elected officials call for investigations into “price gouging” from oil companies and gas stations, Roy Cordato injected reality into the discussion with a column published in multiple papers around the state. He explained that when prices from previous decades are adjusted for inflation to reflect today’s dollars, it is clear that prices have, in the past, been higher for longer durations. Cordato also noted that people are adjusting their habits in response to prices, and the market is responding. That element of the gas-price story was explored in a recent Fayetteville Observer column that featured Chad Adams and his hybrid vehicle, affectionately known as the “Hobbit” car by JLF-ers.