The falling dollar is ensuring that consumers in the US are hardest hit.

Two months ago popular uprisings across North Africa had already rocked Algeria, forced regime change in Tunisia and Hosni Mubarak’s resignation in Egypt.

But the price of oil really took off Feb. 16, when riot police clashed with protestors in Libya’s second-largest city of Benghazi. The fear was that unrest would spread to Saudi Aria and destabilize its vast exports of crude.

Goldman Sach’scall this week to book profits has brought US crude off its highs. However, over two months it’s still up 25%. Let's call it an extra $20 a barrel. Americans alone are locked into feeling the full force of that.

Among developed nations commodity inflation is more brutal in the United States because we’re sitting on a dollar that continues to weaken. By comparison, over those two months the euro and Swiss franc are up 7%. The Australian Dollar has gained 5%.

People importing oil into those countries find their currencies go further, so they are partly cushioned from the higher (dollar) price of oil.

What does an extra $20 a barrel mean for most Americans? The obvious immediate effect is the rising cost of gas.

Last week retail gasoline prices rose 11 cents to a national average of $3.79 a gallon. It could go higher still since insiders tell me there’s typically a lag of two weeks between pricing on international oil markets and pricing at local gas pumps.