Gas- And the price of gas is what again?

[Neil D]

On the coast of Oregon, in the little town of Reedsport, gas has officially crossed under the $2/gallon barrior....Oh boy.....

[phkrause]

Paid $1.789 at BJs yesterday here in Mass

pk

[Bravus]

It's down from about $1.50 a litre to $1.10 a litre (still well over $4 a gallon) in Brisbane. Oil has dropped from $140 a barrel to under $50 a barrel, but the Aussie dollar has dropped from about 95c US to about 67c, so we haven't got anywhere near all the benefit of the oil price drop. Oh, plus the greedy oil companies, of course - price rises fast when oil does, sinks slow.

[phkrause]

I hear you! I've said that we are lucky here in the US that our gas was only at average $4 a gallon. I know that my relatives living in Germany have paid and are still paying like you over $4 a gallon for gas.

pk

[cricket]

$1.49 here yesterday.

[CyberGuy]

I hear you! I've said that we are lucky here in the US that our gas was only at average $4 a gallon. I know that my relatives living in Germany have paid and are still paying like you over $4 a gallon for gas.

pk

Germany has about a $5 a gallon tax on its fuel. They pay over $8 a gallon for fuel. Unlike the USA which has only a 50 cent tax a gallon on fuel. We have a higher tax on fuel in California than most of the country. Which is why our fuel costs are so much less than Germany's due to the lower overall tax.

[CyberGuy]

Paid $2.15 a gallon. My wife found one station for $2.01 a gallon yesterday. Prices are going to drop below $2 a gallon in california and could drop to $1.50 a gallon by Christmas if trend continue.

[Amelia]

Just yesterday I saw it drop to $1.97 in my area.

[Woody]

I saw on Fox that some places are now below $1.25 It is getting cheaper than water.

[Woody]

Folks ... just look at what G.W.Bush has done for us. So much for him being for the big oil companies. The policies of GWB are blessing us with cheap gas.

[Dr. Shane]

The price of oil was driven up by speculators. The reason it is falling is because speculators don't have as much money to speculate with so the price is falling down to its actual value. The decrease in demand is also causing it to fall but without speculators playing the marker in the first place it is unlikely that it would have ever shot above $50/barrel before. Oil producing nations have cut back production so the drop in demand has not created any great surplus that would be responsible for the dramatic fall in price we have seen.

Last I saw gas here it was $1.64/gallon. It is not cheaper here than in Mexico.

[Liz]

$1.67 here.

[Bravus]

Yes, the policies of GWB have given us cheaper gas prices - because they've destroyed the economy and therefore the demand and future demand.

The speculators bid oil up because they assumed, as so many did, that the economy was going to keep growing rapidly forever. But that growth was based on unsustainable debt: there was always going to be a correction.

One of the pities about this is that it will take a lot of urgency out of the quest for alternative energy sources. Things that were viable alternatives at $140 a barrel definitely won't be at $50 a barrel.

[fccool]

Bravus... I think you are giving GW too much credit. The economy destruction began way before he took the office. He was unfortunate enough to be at the Apex.

[Dr. Shane]

Bravus... I think you are giving GW too much credit. The economy destruction began way before he took the office. He was unfortunate enough to be at the Apex.

I absolutely agree. In some areas he tried to do something to increase oversight and in other areas he tried to do thing to decrease it. So I don't put too much blame on him nor do I give him too much credit for trying to stop the train wreck.

[Kountzer]

they're saying that the bottom falling out of the petroleum market will surel trigger a recession here in Houston, and in general all over Texas.

DB

[John317]

Originally Posted By: fccool

Bravus... I think you are giving GW too much credit. The economy destruction began way before he took the office. He was unfortunate enough to be at the Apex.

I absolutely agree. In some areas he tried to do something to increase oversight and in other areas he tried to do thing to decrease it. So I don't put too much blame on him nor do I give him too much credit for trying to stop the train wreck.

Some people (not you, Bravus, or fccool) have short memories when it comes to the economy. If we look at the Wall Street Journal about 3 or so months before Bush took office, we will see evidence of the economy starting to go sour even at that time.

[Bravus]

That's all fair enough, but he had 8 years to fix it, and didn't. It can't *all* be laid at Clinton's feet, and even if Clinton did mess it up it was Bush's job to fix it.

I don't blame him for all of it - I was being brief rather than disclaimer everything to mush - but it happened very much on his watch.

[Woody]

Well we will see what 'change' to the 'old' Clinton administration will do. I will be watching and criticizing. Actually this new Admin. will be more like Clinton than it will be any kind of Obama Admin.

[Dr. Shane]

Bush did pretty good with the economy he inherited. He did pull us out of the hi-tech-bubble recession. The current recession has a lot to do with the Federal Reserve's policies which made money cheap and encouraged the housing bubble. The sub-prime mortgage mess also has a lot to do with it but those wheels were in motion before Bush took office and both Democrats and Republicans in Congress made sure nothing was going to meddle with them.

[carolaa]

The administrations and Congress have just been putting bandaids (fake fixes) on the economy since Reagan, maybe even before that. Politics gets in the way of letting the market run its natural course. Therefore, the problems will not go away until we run out of bandaids, at which time it will all hit the fan.