Oil prices, an economic scourge in decades past, have soared to record levels in recent years. But the fallout often seemed negligible: Americans kept spending; employment kept growing; factories, construction crews and retail stores stayed busy. Skip to next paragraph Enlarge This Image Paul Sakuma/Associated Press Recent high prices of crude oil underlined American dependence on gasoline. On roads like this Los Angeles-area freeway, traffic jams are not limited to rush hour. Now, however, the economy may be starting to sputter as damage from the weak housing market drags down growth. If payrolls drop significantly, will high-price crude oil begin to cause pain in a way that it hasn’t in nearly three decades?