You already know what it is. You pull up to the pump, you look at that number on the screen, and you just stand there for a second because your brain needs a moment to process the disrespect. As of this past Memorial Day weekend, the average price of a gallon of regular gas in Chicago hit $5.35. In some neighborhoods, like Bucktown off the Kennedy, stations were charging up to $6.29 a gallon.
While we’re out here doing the math on whether we can afford to drive to work AND eat this week, a man named Mali Hightower down in Georgia said enough is enough and he did something about it. He took a pink Barbie toy car. Yes, a Barbie car. The little plastic one. And he converted it into his actual daily driver. We’re not talking about a joke. We’re talking about a fully functioning ride that this man is pulling up in on real streets to beat these gas prices.
Chicago, we understand the assignment. Gas prices nationally have jumped nearly 44% from just a year ago , and this city has always taken the hit harder than most. Chicago carries one of the highest combined gas tax burdens in the country. Illinois charges a state excise tax of 39.2 cents per gallon, Cook County adds another 6 cents , and then the city tacks on even more. We’re taxed coming and going, literally.
The average American household is expected to pay about $857 more on gas in 2026 alone. For a city where a lot of us are already stretching every dollar across rent, groceries, and CTA fares, that’s real money. That’s a bill. That’s groceries for the kids. That’s the money you were saving for something better.
We’re not saying go buy a Barbie car. But we ARE saying the audacity of that Georgia man should inspire all of us to think outside the box this summer. Because if these prices keep going, with forecasts projecting a national average of $4.80 a gallon all the way through Labor Day, the Barbie car might start looking real practical.
