Peak oil

[DesertCat]

In 1981 Median U.S. family income was about $19,000, oil prices were about $32 per barrel, so the median family could buy 600 barrels with their yearly earnings.

Median family income is around $45,000 right now, so with oil prices at $54 the median family can buy about 800 barrels with their earnings. That's cheaper.

And if we hadn't depreciated the U.S. dollar by 40% the price of oil would be $30, and the average family income would equate to 1,500 barrels. That would be way cheaper.
You are only looking at the fact that we averaged around $15 per barrel from 1986-1999 (including for a very brief period in 1998, $10 per barrel), equivilant to 2,000 to 3,000 barrels per family.

That was the cheapest oil in history, but not 500% cheaper. And back then we weren't filling the strategic oil reserve, Venezuala's oil industry wasn't under the thumb of a nutty dictator, we weren't fighting a war in Iraq (cept for 1990 when oil prices jumped to aha! 1,500 Barrels per family median income) and the dollar was much, much stronger.

I tend to think any short term changes in oil prices has more to do with those factors, than peak oil predictions.