Shouldn’t everything that was impacted by high oil prices (food, transportation) also be impacted by low oil prices? It would seem to me that the low prices will be reflected on consumer goods. if the market was whining that food cost more because of transportation costs, well now food should cost less.
While I feel horrible that thousands will lose jobs, that’s also the risk of working in an industry where there is volatility. If you are a company in this industry and you didn’t financially plan for this, then shame on you.
You are correct
regarding the jobs, back in ‘12 I visited Monahans Texas, the state park there. It is on I 20 west of Odessa. I met a guy in the campground that was a pipefitter from Missouri. He came there to work in the Permian Basin field that was exploding with work. He was calling all his buddies telling them to come. He was offered all the hours he could stand. He came from the fields in Pennsylvania where the work was being interrupted by the antifracking crowd.
He told me of the work going on along the Texas 18 corridor up toward Kermit. We stayed three days exploring the area and seeing all the work in process. In the small towns there were lots of signs for Help wanted. The guy in question was in the State Park because he couldn’t find a site for his trailer in the RV parks in the towns. They were all overflowing. He was a construction nomad, following the work from job to job while mama and the kids were back in Missouri.
Any way, to shorten the story, all the businesses were working at capacity and needed all kinds of help. Cooks, wait staff, payroll clerks, and on and on. The back roads in the actual oil fields were swarming with white pick up trucks. I had no idea where they were going or what they were doing but what ever, they were hard at it
So, when the glut was over, the in hires were let go and these sleepy, dusty small Texas towns returned to their pre glut state.