Time has an aritcle up on how Europeans are dealing with soaring gas prices. This is how the first paragraph of the piece ends:
The wave of angry action is expected to spread further across Europe in coming days, despite efforts by political leaders to feel the pain and figure out how to alleviate it.
And later on in the article:
One big reason for the difference is that European governments put a much higher tax burden on fuel than the U.S. does. State and federal taxes currently make up just 11% of the pump price in the U.S., according to the Energy Information Administration; in France and the U.K., taxes account for an average of around 70%.
If only there were some mechanism to lower gas prices with the stroke of a pen. . . . Imagine if a government had that type of power. . . .