Reminiscing about the Good Old Days of Gas Prices

http://consumerist.com/2013/09/17/you-will-probably-never-pay-less-than-3-for-a-gallon-of-gas-ever-again/

The Consumerist says that we will never again in our lifetimes pay less than $3/gallon for gas. When I first got my driver's license, I remember paying less than a dollar! I also remember when gas prices started to go up and I swore I would never pay more than $2/gallon. (Maybe the math problem in here is figuring out how old I am...). The Consumerists's logic seems to be that because today was the 1000th consecutive day that average gas prices are over $3, we can safely say that we've reached the point of no return. 

Here are my mathematical questions about this situation: 

• Are you convinced the 1000th day is "enough" of a pattern to say that we're never going back? 
• Would you be as convinced if the 1000 days were not consecutive? What kind of pattern of conductivity would be "enough" for you? 
• Does it matter that this about the national average of gas prices? 
• Does it matter what that average price is for you to be convinced? For example, if the national average price of gas is $3.89, I'll probably be convinced that <$3 is unlikely. But if the national average is $3.02, I feel confident in saying that I won't have too much trouble driving around and finding a gas station where I can pay $2.99. --> This seems like a perfect opportunity to talk about the importance of standard deviation!
• How could looking at a graph of gas prices help add to an argument? I feel like there's a very powerful visual argument of showing the $3 line and looking at when the graph stops dropping below that. 
• If you wanted to convince someone with a graph, what data would you show? 
• National averages only, or the range? 
• How often would you want to chart data points? Daily? Weekly? Monthly?