Posted on 01/06/2011 7:14:31 AM PST by danielmryan
Almost as surely as dawn precedes daylight, the rising price of oil tends to lead to higher gas prices. With the price of a barrel of oil at around $90, there is increasing concern that expensive fuel will choke off the U.S. economic recovery. At TheAtlantic.com, Lisa Margonelli makes the case that gas, at $3.07 a gallon across the country, is already problematic....
Nobody wants to see a repeat of 2007 and 2008, when gas prices spiked to above $4 per gallon, as this chart from Gasbuddy shows, and people began to ride horses to run errands. But for several reasons, rising gas prices in 2011 won't have anywhere near the psychological and actual economic effect they did just a few years ago.
First, the U.S. is consuming less gasoline on a per capita basis than it did a few years ago. It may be too soon to argue that we've reached a level of peak gasoline consumption, but it's also clear that we're not nearly as addicted to oil as a transportation fuel as we were a few years ago. According to the Energy Department, growth of motor gasoline consumption stalled out in the middle of the last decade. From a peak of 3.389 billion barrels in 2007, consumption fell in both 2008 and 2009; 2009's total of 3.283 billion barrels was 3.1 percent below the 2007 total. (Data showing the four-week average of consumption reveal that gasoline sales picked up a bit in 2010.)
Consumption has fallen in part because the much-maligned, SUV-heavy U.S. car fleet is getting more fuel efficient with every passing day....
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Another one for the "had Bush been president" file.
The new Republican house better start the Drill Baby Drill mantra again, ElQuicko......
Is Yahoo going to help me pay for that $3.50 gas that I’m not supposed to worry about?
Wonder what she’ll say when it hits the $5 -7.50 per gallon mark.
Who you trying to kid? There's only one reason you think we should've been worried then & not now.
The more gas prices go up the more the pubbies need to showcase obammy’s shutting down oil, gas, coal.
The more folks understand this is obammy’s fault the more they will come to hate his guts.
Does this mean George Bush is back to his evil ways and helping his buddies in the oil industry get rich?
The $90+ per barrel price for oil is in large part dictated by the OPEC cartel. Domestic oil produced in the US by US companies isn’t subject to OPEC price fixing as price fixing cartels are illegal in the US under anti-trust laws. Would it make more sense to increase the domestic production of oil, give Americans the jobs and tell OPEC to stick their price rather than curtail domestic production and depend more and more on imported oil and OPEC price fixing?
It’s already $3.43 here in Alaska, more like $8 in the bush. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the courts just pulled Shell’s permits so no exploration again for now. Liberalism is a suicide pact where the bombers strap failed science to themselves and blow us up in the courthouse.
Side note - power company here is install new transformers. I wonder why and who is paying for it. And they already hit me with the new meter.
It's also fallen because millions of people currently aren't driving to work every day. And $3.50/gallon gas makes it less likely they will resume driving to work.
A gallon of gas cost only 23 cents, in 1955.
Here is a fun animation of the housing crash mixed in with a very quick history of money, including WHY the cost of gas has NOTHING to do with the gas itself.
It is pretty funny. Bit of Back to the Future, Twilight Zone, and ends with a nod to 300, only 29 minutes long.
The American Dream
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv2oCXbW4r0&feature=player_embedded
Nope. But you'd better believe that if he was still around, we wouldn't be told not to sweat it. All we'd be hearing is gloom and doom war for oil crap.
“Consumption has fallen in part because the much-maligned, SUV-heavy U.S. car fleet is getting more fuel efficient with every passing day....”
What a pantload. Consumption fell because gas prices were insane and the economy was going into the crapper fast.
What cost $0.25 in 1970 would cost $1.37 in 2009.
You could also compare the cost of bread, the minimum wage or other items on a current year to a historical price.
In the end, you realize - we are soooooo screwed, so why bother - there is nothing you can do but watch.
Published inflation. A 1964 quarter, contains $5.00 in metal. To me, that is actual (measured) inflation.
And yes, we are sooo screwed.
No, it is not necessarily inflation.
It is the ever expanding cost of MONEY, the cost of using money backed by debt. Watch the video when you have the time. It is entertaining, and covers a lot of basics.
No, don't sweat it! It's the new normal! In fact, it's going to go much, much higher than that!
I want my country back. I want oil drilling in every state that has the black gold underneath the ground.
Bookmarked for viewing after work...
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