NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - High energy prices are not the economy's friend. Because they act like a tax on businesses and consumers alike, capital that might otherwise get spent on washing machines and machine tools gets burned away instead.

Yet nobody seems particularly concerned about how high energy costs are now. Maybe that's because this is considered a temporary phenomenon.

Take those pump prices, for example. Monday, the Lundberg Survey said that gasoline prices have risen by more than 15 cents in the past two weeks to a national average of $1.72 a gallon. That was the biggest spike in the 50-plus years of the survey, and just short of the highs reached last March.

But those high prices should subside shortly -- they were due to the combined effect of the blackout in the northeast and panic buying in Phoenix after a major pipeline break.

Crude is up above $30 a gallon again, with West Texas Intermediate finishing Friday at $31.77 a barrel -- well above the $25.22 low it hit in late April. Blame it on a falloff in Venezuelan production and the slowness of getting Iraqi oil on line. Prices will fall by the end of year -- analysts polled by First Call say that crude will be trading at $24.90 by the end of December.

Natural gas prices are coming down, too, say the analysts. Gas will be trading at $4.42 in the first quarter, down from the current $5.13. Guess it's going to be a mild winter.

The funny thing is that energy prices usually trend higher during economic recovery. Things are different this time around, apparently.

Meanwhile, Merrill Lynch strategist Rich Bernstein calculated last week that at current prices filling up the gas tank of a Hummer H2 for a year could soon cost more than two or three PCs. Fortunately, anybody who owns a Hummer probably has plenty of extra money for discretionary purchases and has no apparent trouble with spending it.