> A year and a half ago, energy expenses constituted 5.4 percent of total consumer spending. Today that share is down to 3.7 percent.
That’s a good thing for the average person. The success of the economy shouldn’t be measured by how fast you can mindlessly shuffle money around (GDP). Cheaper oil gives people the option to save or live a little better on the same income.
As far as the total economy goes, doesn’t any money not spent on gasoline get spent somewhere else. Most live paycheck to paycheck, so if it isn’t going in the tank, it is going to clothes or a house or a hairdo. If money is saved then that hurts the economy doesn’t it in the short run?