My local gas station was selling premium last night for $3.68 per gallon. That is down almost a dollar from less than a month ago and is way less expensive as compared to Europe.
Why? Americans are driving less; oil consumption is down; and the price of the commodity follows. This summer as gas prices went up, we drove less to save on gas plus the cars we have been buying consume less oil. The virtuous cycle has begun in earnest.
Also, I believe that big oil wants to hold gas prices down during this election cycle. If the price of gas is down, it won’t become a big issue during the debates and during the voter thinking process. Big oil would love a Republican to win as the Democrats will go after big oil in a big way post an election victory.
So enjoy the low gas prices. But if we consume more, the price will go up though I bet the price will stay low and even go lower from here on out to Election Day.
I agree completely that high gas prices our exactly what the U.S. needs to start thinking about environmental conservation and alternate fuel sources. However the reason for higher gas prices this summer has been due to the falling dollar and in turn the less buying power we are left with. Now, as the dollar starts to become stronger, our buying power increases and thus gas prices fall. What really concerns me though is not only the idea that the Caps would trade Nylander but once gas prices start to level off, will we forget that alternative choices to fossil fuels are a must or will we continue to search for alternatives?
You are right on the money, Ted! Big oil is praying that McCain wins or else, it’s bye bye subsidies!!
When are people going to put in their thick heads that high gas prices is good for them??!!?!? We didn’t get serious about alternative energy and we didn’t get on our bikes instead of our cars until the price of gas hit record prices. The sad part is, as the price of gas goes down, the narrow-minded people will start buying suvs and start driving more and thus, more demand for oil, and so we continue the vicious cycle.
Say Ted, as a successful businessman yourself, do you cringe when Obama talks about windfall taxes on oil companies with a ~10% profit margin not seeming to understand that the larger the size of your business (and, hence, revenue stream), the larger the profits even with a somewhat low profit margin? If XOM does $100B in revenue in a quarter, is 10% of that as profit unreasonable? If I were a pharmaceutical company, I’d be worried, what with their ~30% profit margins and the impact of health care on the economy and individual voter’s pocket books.
Democrats will go after all corporations but just cry out against “big oil” in their mantra to bias the uninformed.
The real idea that the USA might actually become the last major industrialized nation to harvest its own natural resources (now believed to be equivalent in volume to what is in the Middle East) isn’t having anything to do with the OPEC cost per barrel either, is it?
Using our own resources WHILE AT THE SAME time we develop a really marketable and consumable viable alternative energy is not only good economic sense, it’s good security sense. Why be beholden to the Middle East for our oil?