There's a scene in "It's a Wonderful Life" in which George Bailey rushes to the building and loan during a run on the banks to find his customers lined up, scared, trying to get their money out. He winds up using his honeymoon money to help the customers through. At one point he pleads with them to show restraint and take just what they need to get by.

That's the position Americans are in now when it comes to gasoline. The question is, how many were filling up their tanks Wednesday with just what they needed to get by? Cars were lined up at times 25 deep to get to stations in the Upstate that were charging $3 or more for a gallon of unleaded. It was the same around the nation. The lines and the prices prompted President Bush and South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster to plead with station owners not to overcharge customers. McMaster said any illegal activity would be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

Meantime, some experts were calling on consumers to show restraint as well, and not top off their tanks as part of some mass panic.

Dan Pickering, president of Houston-based Pickering Energy Partners, told The Wall Street Journal a lack of consumer restraint could exacerbate the problem.