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DEL.ICIO.USAre lower gas prices a form of voting intervention?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Back at the end of May when gas was super high in Lawrenceville, I wrote a blog wondering: “Will we ever see $2 gas again?�
I remembered my father stuck in gas lines back in the 1970s and how they stretched down the block and around the corner. I said that just like prices dropped back then, $2 gas in Lawrenceville would be in our future.
After the blog posted, people wrote in and said, “Doubt it!� or “Not in this lifetime!�
Even my friends said I was wrong and that if anything, gas prices were headed higher.
These same friends later chastised me for buying an SUV over the summer. They equated this purchase to an environmental horror much like wearing a fur coat to a PETA convention.
So I take great personal pleasure today in spending only a buck and 95 cents per gallon.
I want to say, “I told you so!� and drive folks around in my vehicle with the new car smell that’s still existing.
Instead though, a portion of the American public wants to claim lower gas prices are due to governmental manipulation. Lower numbers at the pump are only due to next month’s upcoming elections, they say.
Personally, I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth because filling up an SUV in July was pure torture. So, I accept these lower gas prices wholeheartedly and now consider Lawrenceville QTs my financial saviors.
Do you believe that lower gas prices are because of election-driven government manipulation? Or could it be that I was right when I said lower prices always come back in the future?
Permalink | Comments (11) | Categories: Jacqueline Bullard
Comments
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By katie
October 11, 2006 6:52 AM | Link to this
I don’t think the recent fall in gas prices has anything to do with elections. I think that is a media frenzy. Gas prices go up and then they go down. Gas prices always go up in the Summer months, it’s when people travel the most. I too own an SUV and don’t complain about paying for the price of gas. I look at it this way, I wanted the truck so therefore I have to pay for the gas. I budgeted gas into my estimate of what owning an SUV would cost. Simple as that. I think we give to much credit to politicians, I don’t think they’re smart enough to manipulate any system.
By Cosmo
October 11, 2006 8:14 AM | Link to this
No, gas prices are not lower because of the upcoming election. There are a couple of reasons prices have dropped. As Katie stated above, the summer months are when most people drive more and prices always increase then - with a decrease in the fall. Also, remember the reason prices sky rocketed last summer? The three hurricanes that swept through the Gulf, including Katrina which wiped out the pumping and processing facilities. This year there were no hurricanes in the Gulf, hence the dramatic decrease in oil and gas prices (as well as natural gas which use the same pumping facilities). But some people will grasp at straws and try to make it look like some huge conspiracy……but most people are smart enough to know better.
By Bonedaddy
October 11, 2006 9:00 AM | Link to this
The fact that people even ask this amazes me. Have you not heard of OPEC? Do you know where refined gasoline comes from? It comes from barrels of crude oil, which by the way, we buy most of it from OPEC countries who set the price. It is driven by worldwide supply and demand. Has anyone ever heard of supply/demand economics? I doubt most of the people that would even have the abaility to read this paper have the ability to understand this. I am amazed by the masses of asses and their inability to understand simple economics.
By Bonedaddy
October 11, 2006 9:01 AM | Link to this
The fact that people even ask this amazes me. Have you not heard of OPEC? Do you know where refined gasoline comes from? It comes from barrels of crude oil, which by the way, we buy most of it from OPEC countries who set the price. It is driven by worldwide supply and demand. Has anyone ever heard of supply/demand economics? I doubt most of the people that would even have the abaility to read this paper have the ability to understand this. I am amazed by the masses of asses and their inability to understand simple economics.
By Bonedaddy
October 11, 2006 9:01 AM | Link to this
The fact that people even ask this amazes me. Have you not heard of OPEC? Do you know where refined gasoline comes from? It comes from barrels of crude oil, which by the way, we buy most of it from OPEC countries who set the price. It is driven by worldwide supply and demand. Has anyone ever heard of supply/demand economics? I doubt most of the people that would even have the abaility to read this paper have the ability to understand this. I am amazed by the masses of asses and their inability to understand simple economics.
By Not a conspiracy
October 11, 2006 1:17 PM | Link to this
Republicans did not have anything to do with the raising or lowering of fuel prices. The price of oil is dictated by OPEC and the market pure and simple. Prices are dropping The only way politicians can affect the price is by levying taxes to the ppg. I don’t believe that was done or the press would have had a field day.
By Bob
October 11, 2006 5:04 PM | Link to this
As soon as I hear someone say that the government is manipulating gas prices, I know I am talking to an idiot.
All my follow-up listening is then done to amuse me; they have nothing of substance to add to any discussion.
By Baby Oil
October 11, 2006 10:34 PM | Link to this
Better hold on to that “told you so!� At least until alternative fuels like E85/Ethanol and eventually Hydrogen become the norm Jacq. Cheap gas will last about as long as that new car’s smell – a little past November at best. Wake up and smell the OPEC BIG OIL hydrocarbons cooking.
By Economics 101
October 12, 2006 5:23 PM | Link to this
I agree with the other bloggers. This has nothing to due with politics - just basic consumer supply and demand. However, as soon as the price goes back over $3 per gallon, we’ll be back to blaming the Bush administration for this horrible economy we have. I find it amusing how the media continues to influence this country in such a negative way.
By ATICO
October 12, 2006 9:10 PM | Link to this
Yes if you are a Democrat to to the far left. To others with common sense, it is the market that dictates the price of all goods. Take a hike with this political crapola.
By Baby Oil
October 14, 2006 5:03 PM | Link to this
A third world country Brazil back in the early ‘70s on the verge of economic collapse due to dependence on foreign oil took the initiative - almost a military one of sorts — to become independent from foreign oil. Three years in the making Brazil achieves energy independence and as of today flex-fuel cars operating on Ethanol or E85 or Gas have freed an energy starved people and saved their economy.
Perhaps a good movie is in order…. yes, call it “Wag the Market�. Or maybe a book of trivia for the duped?
My Private War and How I Waged It: The Dictating of Markets by Baby Oil Bush.