Gas prices fall from highest to lowest in 6 months... hmm

[Fosco33]

On/about mid-July - average gas for a gallon in the US was about $4.11.
Less than 6 months later, the price is at a 5 year low of about $1.75.

How could this happen?

Experts say drop in crude prices and demand... - well no shit.

But does the August and October drop in miles driven really equate to a 57% drop in less than 6 monhts?

Is it just a huge coincidence with our national elections and the timing of the precipitous drop after Obama got in office?

I'm not typically one to think about conspiracy theories - but it wouldn't surprise me if someone with ties to the Democrats had a hand in artificially driving crude oil higher in order to ruin a fair election. Are we just puppets/sheep?

Anyone else have a theory? Summer hurricanes, drop in India-China demand, etc. To me - it's always artificial pricing.

[arcilite]

supply and demand

[MJZiggy]

I think it has to do with what the oil producers thought they could get away with, then when banks started collapsing they realized that the prices wouldn't hold. I'm thinking they started producing more. (and there's another oil field about to be tapped).

[bobblehead]

supply and demand

duh, the global economy went in the shitter, ya think the demand dropped just a tad??

[Fosco33]

The economy has been on the decline for a year - yet prices were going up at record rates for 6 months. The high prices knocked down demand - but only in August (after/during the bank failures) when the stock markets fell (which hit global markets). I'm just shocked that banks over-extending themselves has impacted so many industries.

I'm just shocked at the rate... a dollar since Obama has been in office. Record drops. When will consumer goods follow suite?

I'd like a nice drop in general prices of everything - and would love housing prices to continue to return to where they should've been before the fake increases.

I'm thinking of buying back into oil sometime in February when demand should increase and California moves to their summer blend.

[oregonpackfan]

I'm just shocked at the rate... a dollar since Obama has been in office.

Obama hasn't been in office yet! He is still the President-Elect, not the President.

[Fosco33]

I'm just shocked at the rate... a dollar since Obama has been in office.

Obama hasn't been in office yet! He is still the President-Elect, not the President.

You know what I mean. Bush has been quite lame for the past year - and Obama is getting security briefings, making appointments, getting transitioned. He does have influence - even as -elect.

[Fosco33]

NPR is setting me straight - nothing like fair, balanced responses...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6151378

[HowardRoark]

Oil became an asset class that became a bubble. Just like tech stocks, tulips, and now the Treasury Bond. The supply and demand would put it somewhere between $55-$75.

[Jimx29]

I'm pretty sure it has something to do with an article that I read this summer just before the prices leveled off, and then dropped to where they are today.
The article showed that over the previous 12 months, the total miles all Americans drove was somewhere in the 5 BILLION miles less than average, and it then showed how much gas taxes for road upkeep, etc... that the fed and local governments were not getting because if the lower miles driven. That figure was understandably HUGE.
It was only like 2 weeks before the prices started dropping.


i'm just saying.......

[Partial]

I've heard that it doesn't take a big decline in demand to have a huge effect on cost.

[sheepshead]

"Is it just a huge coincidence with our national elections and the timing of the precipitous drop after Obama got in office? "


Holy Shit this is scary how much the media and Barry's signage has an effect on people.

[sheepshead]

Besides, George Bush and Dick Cheney got all the money they need now so the prices have come down.

[Cheesehead Craig]

Besides, George Bush and Dick Cheney got all the money they need now so the prices have come down.

[texaspackerbacker]

The whole economic "crisis" was/is a sham.

To the extent that the problems are real at all, it is because the media hoodwinked people into thinking there was a crisis and acting accordingly.

Decreased demand? Yeah right! who do you know that was driving less, using less air conditioning/heating in their home, etc. The same factors internationally--more cars, more factories, higher standard of living in general in India, China, and the capitalist part of the third world are still in place.

So what is different? Well, the timing of the whole thing is extremely coincident with the Bush Administration commitment to drill off-shore. Also, even though the "drill baby drill" people didn't win the election, the polls showed the popularity of their viewpoint to the extent that even Obama and the environmentalist wacko Dems started at least saying they were for more drilling. Everybody knows this crap about 5 or 10 year lag time before production occurs is bullshit. THIS is what brought the turnaround.