It's about time people start realizing that all the massive growth our civilization experienced in the 20th century is mainly thanks to cheap and abundant fossil fuels. Energy is still abundant, in fact it's more abundant thanks to renewable energies, but it's far from cheap. Energy is getting more expensive all the time because energy demand is growing higher and at the same time energy sources with high EROEI are becoming more and more scarce.
Actually, gasoline costs just as much as it did 30 years ago. Price energy in real money, like gold, and you'll come to different conclusions.
In the 70's, a silver dime bought a gallon of gas. Today, a silver dime still buys a gallon of gas. Ponder on that
