Monday, December 22, 2008

Real Gas Prices Hit 6-Year Low = $350B Savings

CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) - The average national price of gasoline fell 9 cents in the past two weeks, bringing it to its lowest point in nearly five years, according to a national survey released Sunday. The average price of regular gasoline Friday was $1.66 a gallon, oil industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said. The last time gas prices dipped so low was in February 2004, Lundberg said, when the national average for regular was also around $1.66 a gallon. The all-time high was on July 11, 2008, when the price peaked at $4.11 a gallon.

MP: In inflation-adjusted dollars, real gas prices are at a six-year low, reaching the lowest level since December 2002 (see chart above), according to real gas price data from the EIA. The $2.45 per gallon decline to the current $1.66 from the $4.11 July peak represents annual savings for American consumers and businesses of almost $350 billion (each penny decrease saves consumers about $4 million per day, or $1.4235 billion annually).

8 Comments:

At 12/22/2008 4:27 PM, Blogger QT said...

MP,

If your relatives are still looking for the perfect gift for a certain econ prof...

Merry Christmas. Thanks for a year of interesting posts.

 
At 12/22/2008 8:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow, all these savingses but I'm not feeling rich.

 
At 12/22/2008 8:27 PM, Blogger juandos said...

"Wow, all these savingses but I'm not feeling rich"...

Not to worry poor boomer, if Obama gets his way, there'll be a lot more folks in the same boat as you are in now...

Obama: ‘Under My Plan, Electricity Rates Will Necessarily Skyrocket’

"What about the costs? Heritage’s Center for Data Analysis calculated the costs of global warming legislation in the U.S. alone and the cumulative GDP losses for 2010 to 2029 approach $7 trillion. Single-year losses exceed $600 billion in 2029, more than $5,000 per household. Annual job losses exceed 800,000 for several years. That’s a scary price to pay for what little benefits we receive"...

 
At 12/23/2008 7:19 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

My campaign button that says "gas prices were $1.46 per gallon when Bush took office" takes on a whole different meaning now...

 
At 12/23/2008 9:11 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dr Perry,

Has there ever been a price correction as dramatic as the gas price drop? Ever, in history? I am amazed that no one mentions how historic a drop this is.

 
At 12/23/2008 10:47 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Maybe the Democrats can hold another Stalinesque show trial - I mean committee hearing - and subpoena all the oil company executives to testify concerning this act of altruism. After all, if the gas price rise was due to their unrestrained greed than surely every fair minded leftist would agree that the fall must be the result of altruism on the part of these same executives.



Ooops, it may be too late. It seems the oil companies have taken the Democrat message to heart and are quickly leaving the U.S.:


"Much political hay has been made in Congress about "unpatriotic" corporations that move operations abroad. Weatherford International is the latest, taking its headquarters from Houston to Switzerland. The oil services company said that it wants to be closer to its markets. But what it really meant was that it no longer saw the future in the U.S."

"In a political atmosphere of blaming corporations, it's no wonder. Halliburton fled to Dubai in 2007. Tyco International, Foster Wheeler and Transocean International all went to Switzerland. As a pattern emerges, America's global standing diminishes, in part because it's based on the willingness of companies to invest. It's an especially bad sign when domestic companies flee."
...

"What accounts for this vote of no confidence in the U.S.?"

"Start with the demonization of oil companies. Executives have been hauled before Congressional star chambers, held up to abuse and ridicule, and then blamed for high oil prices as if they wanted to kill their markets."

http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=313977823484200


Now that's change only a left-wing Democrat can believe in.

 
At 12/25/2008 3:04 PM, Blogger OBloodyHell said...

How many news articles are there about oil company profits now?

I'm assuming that the current prices mean that someone is probably losing their shirts.

 
At 12/25/2008 3:06 PM, Blogger OBloodyHell said...

Also: How many people remember comments early last spring about how gas prices were arbitrarily high (at <$4/gallon) and how they ought to drop considerably during the summer?

A bit late, but otherwise exactly as predicted.

 

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