Anyone who’s been to a gas station recently knows the feeling. There you are, about to refuel, when you see the price of regular gasoline: about $3.52 per gallon, up 77 cents since 2010. Your pulse quickens. Your stomach sinks. Because this is not a dream. The days of $4.00-a-gallon gas are about to return.

How we got here is no mystery. The turmoil in the Middle East, including a supply disruption in war-torn Libya, raises market anxiety. The flood of money coming from the Federal Reserve contributes to commodity price inflation from food to precious metals to oil. Increased demand, in emerging markets in particular, translates into more expensive fuel at home.