Posted on 11/14/2008 12:49:02 PM PST by Slapshot68
Retail gasoline prices fell further overnight, bringing the decline since the summer's record high to nearly $2 a gallon, according to figures released Friday. The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline fell 2.6 cents to $2.152 from $2.178 Thursday, according to a daily survey for the American Automobile Association. The price of gas has dropped $1.962, or 48%, since hitting an all-time high of $4.114 in July. Gas prices have declined for 58 days in a row, tumbling more than $1.70, or 44.2%, in that time. Friday's national average price is the lowest since Jan. 31, 2007, when it was $2.151. The states with the highest gas prices were in Alaska, at $3.221 a gallon, and Hawaii, at $3.079. Missouri had the cheapest gas in the nation, at $1.864 a gallon, and is one of 9 states with average prices below $2. Even as gas prices fall, demand has continued to slip. MasterCard's weekly survey of gas station credit card swipes showed demand down 4.2% last week, compared to the same period last year. The rapid decline in gas prices comes as the price of crude oil continues to collapse. Crude prices, which make up roughly half of gasoline prices, have fallen more than 60% since hitting a record $147.27 a barrel on July 11. Crude for December delivery settled at $58.24 on Thursday.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
IT IS BUSHE’S FAULT——— OR AT LEAST THAT IS WHAT THEY SAID WHRN THE PRICE WAS RISING !!!!!!
Real economic stats from China must be quite interesting these days. There have been some stories leaking out about wholesale layoffs and factory closings.
As bad as things may be in the US, it will be worse in China.
I would look at the data from EIA and IEA.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/international/contents.html
OPEC also provides decent global data in their monthly market reports.
http://www.opec.org/home/Monthly%20Oil%20Market%20Reports/2008/mr102008.htm
funny how government dems aren’t running around considering bailing out the oil companies.
They are talking about raising taxes on gas because people are starting to use more of it.
The democratsenergy policy is simple: we are going to force Americans to use less energy by any means possible.
- We will do this through increasing taxes to curb use.
- We will do this by delaying new projects in the courts.
- We will tell them it is okay to build a certain kind of plant, but not the one you want, and then, when they say ‘okay’, we will then deny them the ability to make the plant we said they could build.
- We will do everything possible to prevent creation of additional energy supplies.
- We will also do everything we can to shut down as many existing plants as possible through regulations and much stricter emissions regulations.
- We will do this through higher energy prices, because we know that stopping new plant production will cause demand to go higher, and therefore, increase consumer prices for energy.
- We will force by law the use of mercury-laden CFL bulbs because we are taking regular incandescent bulbs off the market, and taking away freedom of choice in terms of what citizens can use in their homes for light. ‘Freedom of Choice’ only is relevant to killing unborn babies, not what you light your house with.
- We will force you to use certain forms of energy that the market (free citizens) would generally not choose to use on their own. Such as wind power. Such as ethanol. We are so committed to this we will use their tax dollars to subsidize these energy options and force their fuels and power companies to make the consumers use them (or at least, pay for them).
We, the democrats of America, believe it is profoundly unfair that 4% of the world’s population use 25% of the world’s energy resources, and we are committed to bringing that 25% figure down sharply. We will correct the waste and greed of our citizens and businesses whether they like it or not.
Librals in this town have suddenly remembered that Presidents have little or no control over gasoline prices, now that it’s $1.719/gallon. The local paper has a phone-in opinion line that gets published every day, so we can keep track of their insanity.
Of course, they were playing a different tune when we had $4.00 a gallon unleaded regular. No sir! Then it was Bush’s fault, and an impeachable offense at that.
I am not exaggerating.
I think when they say “demand”, they mean ridiculous speculatory demand from investors who never intend to receive any oil.
I concur completely. Once the sheeple saw gas prices going down, it took pressure off Congress/DEMONRATS to drill and gave McCain/Palin one less advantage for their campaign. We’d better enjoy these prices now, because Obama has no intention of making life comfortable for us peasants.
Prediction: back up to $4/gal by spring, $8/gal by summer.
All it will take will be Ahmadinejad sneezing, Putin getting a hangnail, or Chavez getting laryngitis ... or maybe just the 'Rat Congress slapping on a $2/gal tax.
The drop in oil prices (because I watch them every morning on Squawk) is directly related to the day President Bush reversed the ban on domestic drilling. The MSM, even Fox, has not attributed it to this, but it is true.
Note that last Sunday afternoon, “O” indicated that he may reverse this, and sure enough on Monday morning, oil rose $4/barrel.
I’m perplexed by this. We live in Arizona. Our gas prices were regularly touted as being the lowest in the country for the last year. And yet when the prices started dropping, ours have not dropped nearly as far. We’re at around $2.15 this week. It doesn’t make sense why our gas would not continue to be the cheapest.
Make sure you send a link to Bill O’Reilly the idiot who said the oil companies should give 5 % of their income to the poor.
Does anyone beside Neil Cavuto understand supply and demand economics and the wisdom of free trade?
Is this the same news service that tells us it’s raining when it’s raining?
The prices will go way up again as soon as the stupid democrats start putting drilling bans in place.
That's the sort of price fluctuation that in a sane world, ought to trigger some inquiries. Unfortunately, we're too busy trying to stave off financial armageddon to care, right now.
It would be nice to think that the speculators responsible for that spike have lost their shirts in the subsequent collapse but they're probably now amongst the new corporate welfare beneficiaries and queuing up for a bailout.
Friday, 11/7 Close was $61.04
Monday it closed at $62.41
Tuesday it closed at $59.33
Wednesday it closed at $56.16
Thursday it closed at $58.24
I see a last price of $56.88
What policy of Obama’s and the democratically control House and Senate drove this week’s drop?
They won’t be willing to share the sacrifice, too many renegrade members.
China peaked with the Olympics, summer’s over and mistrust is King.
Nope, the good old days were when I filled my 10 gallon tank up for $3.50, actually in some places less than that, depending on the exact year. Gas wars, also a thing of the past thanks to government interference, used to drive the price way down. When I was in HS it was about .20 per gallon, ahhh, the good old days!
Thank you for the links. Very helpful Excel formats on the DOE website. I’m sure you are much better versed on those stats than I am, but if I read them correctly:
World-wide production has remained relatively stable over the past 14 months, with production peaking this summer but dropping slightly in the past two or three months.
Stats on the most recent months of world-wide demand not available, but looking at the component areas, it appears that demand has not fallen precipitously.
So, check me if I am wrong, but I just don’t see a huge drop in demand that would justify such a drop in international prices. Unless I am missing something in this commodity market, I conclude that speculation accounted for a significant, but not total, reason for the prices over the summer.
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