Up Like a Rocket, Down Like a Feather
Well, according to news sources, the last time oil was at $87.00/barrel, gasoline was averaging $2.77 nationally. It is averaging about $3.40 per gallon now. So, why the disparity? I guess I can’t complain too much, I bought gas at $2.73/gallon yesterday. But it always seems that when oil prices go up, gasoline prices follow closely, however, when oil prices go down, gasoline is slow to follow.
I’m assuming that the reason the national average is still hanging in there is because of the ultra-high prices in the Southeast. If that’s the case, then the average should drop like a rock sometime next week.
Anyway, according to oil-price.net, the price for oil is down to a little less than $80.00/barrel. Of course, the experts who were all doom and gloom about high oil prices are down doom and gloom about them falling and how it will hurt the economy. Um, in case they haven’t noticed, the economy is already in a big hurt…
But, I’m thinking lower gasoline prices, while may be bad for the oil companies (who, by-the-way, raked in BILLIONS of extra profits over the past few years) would be good for the overall economy. Lower fuel prices will encourage those who’ve been staying close to home to travel a bit more. This also means staying in hotels, eating out, and spending money that Americans have been a bit reluctant to spend. It should also mean that all other prices (groceries, dry goods, etc.) that went up because fuel went up should start coming down. But, that probably will be feather-like, too.