NEW YORK (MainStreet) — If you think that gas prices are out of control, think again. At less than $4 a gallon nationally — and during the summer, no less — Americans are like the pampered gas guzzler of the Western world. Try the U.K., where the most recent weekly rate for gas was $7.79, or the Netherlands, where the price of gas now tops $8. It’s good to be an oil-producing country, but even with the U.S. profile as an oil producer on the rise — “The Middle East of the 21st Century,” as the rhetoric now goes, thanks to fracking — other countries retain far greater influence over the ups and downs in the pain at the pump. … Click to view a price quote on COP. Click to research the Energy industry.