Monday, April 30, 2012

Retail Gasoline Prices Have Been Falling for the Last 30 Days, Where's the Media Coverage?

Retail gas prices have been falling now for the last month, see chart above. And yet "rising gas prices" still seems to have much greater media coverage than "falling gas prices," according to a Google News Search for the last 30 days, by a ratio of about 50-to-1. 

9 Comments:

At 5/01/2012 5:14 AM, Blogger Larry G said...

"if it bleeds, it leads".

nothing new from the media about oil... they get hammered all the time for not reporting "good news".

I'll wait until gas is 2.99 before I'll get excited...myself...

:-)

poll question:

how many here actually can remember when gasoline was less than a dollar?

I'm betting not so many....

 
At 5/01/2012 9:02 AM, Blogger juandos said...

"how many here actually can remember when gasoline was less than a dollar?"...

When I was in high school I was paying $10 to fill the 35 gallon gas tank on my F-100...

Do the math...

"Where's the Media Coverage?"...

Seriously?!?!

You think what passes for news media in this country is going to run a story that conflicts with Obama's wnining narrative about big oil and taxes?

 
At 5/01/2012 9:30 AM, Blogger Jon Murphy said...

how many here actually can remember when gasoline was less than a dollar?

I remember it, but not sure how old I was. I think early elementary school?

 
At 5/01/2012 10:51 AM, Blogger bart said...

EIA unleaded gas prices are down under 2% since it's recent peak - not a barn burner.

 
At 5/01/2012 4:23 PM, Blogger Richard Rider said...

Gas was well under a dollar a gallon in my youth. But then, a dollar bought one HELL of a lot more back then. Silly comparison without adjusting for inflation -- and taxes.

BTW, California now has the 2nd highest gas tax (averaging 67.0 cents/gallon) in the nation (January, 2012). National average is 48.8 cents. http://www.api.org/statistics/fueltaxes/
(also CA has the nation’s highest diesel tax – 75.9 cents/gallon. Nat’l average 54.0 cents)

 
At 5/01/2012 4:26 PM, Blogger Richard Rider said...

In addition, today's gasoline is a superior product to the "crude" stuff produced in past generations. It is NOT the same commodity.

Currently gas is much more heavily refined to reduce pollution -- and sometimes to tailor it for certain environmental markets such as CA.

 
At 5/01/2012 7:49 PM, Blogger Richard Rider said...

While the drop is not impressive, it is a REVERSAL.

Ask yourself, what would the MSM be reporting if gas prices steadily INCREASED during this past month, even if only by the same 2%?

Would not we be seeing frequent MSM stories of distraught folks at the pump, railing against evil oil companies and speculators?

 
At 5/02/2012 12:05 PM, Blogger VangelV said...

Reporting that falling demand likely means a contracting real economy is not popular. And without being able to vilify the oil companies there is no story.

 
At 5/02/2012 1:25 PM, Blogger bart said...

RR said: While the drop is not impressive, it is a REVERSAL.

A price drop of 2% is VERY VERY far from an actual change of the intermediate or long term trend. It's a temporary blip, no more.


http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=$GASO&p=W&b=5&g=0&id=p09614481022

 

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