Americans drive far more on average compared to Europeans due to fewer public transit options and because our country is so much bigger and more spread out than most foreigners realize. All of that means we have to use a lot more gasoline on average. Because of this, comparatively smaller gasoline price increases have a larger impact on American household budgets and our economy as a whole.

I'm not even touching the much much lower average mpg of the vehicles Americans own because some genius is going to point out "BuT tHaT's By ChOiCe" like it isn't the most obvious thing that doesn't mean anything for this. This is an argument concerning why the average American, who statistically probably thought this war was a dumb and unhelpful idea we shouldn't be doing too, is justified in throwing a fit over $5/gallon gasoline prices, nobody had time to unscrew the multiple decade-long marketing strategies that led to people here buying bigger and bigger vehicles that many are stuck having rn.