$1.84 - Average gas prices--January 26, 2009

[CF DolFan]

Regular gasoline/gallon $1.84

http://news.consumerreports.org/cars/2009/01/average-gas-pricesjanuary-26-2009.html


I couldn't believe this. I got this in an anti Obama email from some guy who always feels it neccesary to point out all of Obama's flaws. I'm not pointing fingers at Obama ... I was just shocked I hadn't remembered this. Seems like $2.00 gas was 20 years ago.

What's the chances this thing turns around before the next election? I sure hope so!!

[Dave Gray]

It won't ever turn around.

The president doesn't set gas prices.  High gas prices are here to stay forever.  Europe pays like 7-9 a gallon.  There are so many factors at play.  The solution to this isn't to find cheaper gas.  Gas is a dying technology.  We need to find ways to use less of it.  We missed an opportunity to jump on the hybrid train about 10 years ago and we didn't do it.  (Not blaming Bush, by the way...we just didn't.  Americans tried to preserve their way of life, instead of adjusting.)  We waited.  Now, hybrids are less expensive than they were, but a 10 year bump would've been nice.

I will quote myself from an old post:

Instead we got this: (from a White House press briefing)

     Q    Is one of the problems with this, and the entire energy field, American lifestyles?  Does the President believe that, given the amount of energy Americans consume per capita, how much it exceeds any other citizen in any other country in the world, does the President believe we need to correct our lifestyles to address the energy problem?

     MR. FLEISCHER:  That's a big no.  The President believes that it's an American way of life, and that it should be the goal of policy makers to protect the American way of life.  The American way of life is a blessed one.  And we have a bounty of resources in this country.  What we need to do is make certain that we're able to get those resources in an efficient way, in a way that also emphasizes protecting the environment and conservation, into the hands of consumers so they can make the choices that they want to make as they live their lives day to day.


^^^ And that statement wasn't common thinking at the time.  I remember hearing it and being absolutely appalled at the stupidity and incredibly irresponsible shortsightedness.   A different way of thinking would've given us a big head start to get away from our foreign oil dependence, instead of starting now.

[bsmooth]

Regular gasoline/gallon $1.84

http://news.consumerreports.org/cars/2009/01/average-gas-pricesjanuary-26-2009.html


I couldn't believe this. I got this in an anti Obama email from some guy who always feels it neccesary to point out all of Obama's flaws. I'm not pointing fingers at Obama ... I was just shocked I hadn't remembered this. Seems like $2.00 gas was 20 years ago.

What's the chances this thing turns around before the next election? I sure hope so!!

The people who keep posting this stuff or morons and puppets being used by politicians. It has been shown that the driving force behind the gas prices are.
1. Tensions in the Middle East, and all this rhetoric about going to war with Iran is keeping it up.
2. The growth of demand in China and India( you know the two largest populations on the planet).
3. Speculators and investors who pulled their money out of the housing market and have dumped an ungodly amount into the derivatives market.
For example, what these type of emails do not tell you is that for the first time since 1949 we are a net exporter of gas and oil due to lack of demand here.
Also two refineries( which the GOP is screaming we need more of) on the East Coast are being shut down due to lack of demand.
Lastly there is a huge gas glut in Cushing, Oklahoma. A massive pipeline's flow is being rerouted south from Cushing to the Gulf to start reliving this glut. This will cause the prices to rise in the Midwest, and all that gas is being shipped overseas, not around our country to relieve prices.

Or you can go around thinking it is all the president's fault. So I encourage everyone to remind people who are misinformed as to the reasons why our gas is so much higher than 3 years ago.

[CF DolFan]

The people who keep posting this stuff or morons and puppets being used by politicians. It has been shown that the driving force behind the gas prices are.
1. Tensions in the Middle East, and all this rhetoric about going to war with Iran is keeping it up.
2. The growth of demand in China and India( you know the two largest populations on the planet).
3. Speculators and investors who pulled their money out of the housing market and have dumped an ungodly amount into the derivatives market.
For example, what these type of emails do not tell you is that for the first time since 1949 we are a net exporter of gas and oil due to lack of demand here.
Also two refineries( which the GOP is screaming we need more of) on the East Coast are being shut down due to lack of demand.
Lastly there is a huge gas glut in Cushing, Oklahoma. A massive pipeline's flow is being rerouted south from Cushing to the Gulf to start reliving this glut. This will cause the prices to rise in the Midwest, and all that gas is being shipped overseas, not around our country to relieve prices.

Or you can go around thinking it is all the president's fault. So I encourage everyone to remind people who are misinformed as to the reasons why our gas is so much higher than 3 years ago.

Seriously. I didn't post this to make it political. I don't give his rhetoric any more credence than I do the political stuff posted here. In my humble opinion all of you guys have tunnel vision and anything that doesn't fit in line with whatever you believe is automatically discounted. I really shouldn't have posted where I saw that as it doesn't matter. That is my fault.

My only reasoning for posting this was to recall the fact gas was pretty cheap three years ago and I don't think many of us remembered that. I do believe the government has somewhat of a say as to what we pay. If we didn't have leverage  we would all be paying $7 a gallon. As it is the US gets it much cheaper than other countries.

[Brian Fein]

if you recall, right before that, it was also $3-4 a gallon.  It spiked in 2007-2008, and then went back down.  How come that got forgotten so quickly?

[SportsChick]

Because we have a short term memory

[Landshark]

if you recall, right before that, it was also $3-4 a gallon.  It spiked in 2007-2008, and then went back down.  How come that got forgotten so quickly?

And that spike combined with the housing market bubble burst caused the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.  Gas is now even higher than it was then.  If this causes another economic collapse, Obama is done. 

And I agree with CF that the government can and does regulate gas prices

[dolphins4life]

Are you kidding me?

Maybe I missed something because the cheapest gas I could find that summer (2008) here in MA was $3.76

Then I went back to school for classes and an internship so maybe it fell during that time. (I was living on campus and taking the T in for co-op)

I'd like some cheaper gas prices right now.     

[bsmooth]

Seriously. I didn't post this to make it political. I don't give his rhetoric any more credence than I do the political stuff posted here. In my humble opinion all of you guys have tunnel vision and anything that doesn't fit in line with whatever you believe is automatically discounted. I really shouldn't have posted where I saw that as it doesn't matter. That is my fault.

My only reasoning for posting this was to recall the fact gas was pretty cheap three years ago and I don't think many of us remembered that. I do believe the government has somewhat of a say as to what we pay. If we didn't have leverage  we would all be paying $7 a gallon. As it is the US gets it much cheaper than other countries.

I am not trying to make it political. I am pointing the real reasons that we as consumers are being bent over a barrel ( no pun intended) on gas.
Many people really believe the president can control the price of oil and gas.

[CF DolFan]

if you recall, right before that, it was also $3-4 a gallon.  It spiked in 2007-2008, and then went back down.  How come that got forgotten so quickly?

I remember that. I just had forgotten that it dropped so low. Like I said it seemed the under $2 thing was 20 years ago.

In 2008 our summer vacation led us to driving to Virginia, DC, Baltimore, Philly and then over to Cleveland before traveling back home to Orlando. Gas was a MAJOR expense of that vacation. I think that was the highest it got but I could be wrong. 

[Phishfan]

Gas prices might had been low in January 2009, but don't forget that was after a drop in the prices after we had been paying $4+ in 2008. Let's not act like this jump just happened. $2 gas had been around for a very long time.

http://gasbuddy.com/gb_retail_price_chart.aspx

[Dave Gray]

Someone said it earlier, but the key thing is this: Middle East

Depending on how stable their environment is and what's going on there, we'll see different prices.  But that's out of our control, for the most part.

[masterfins]

This is all a bunch of political garbage.  We don't need to drill for more gas, just pass a law that gas taken out of the ground in the US, STAYS in the US and is not exported; and put a cap on speculators, problem solved.  Plus there are HUGE natural gas reserves that are now accessible in New York, Pennsylvania, & Ohio; the problem is there are not sufficient pipelines to transport the gas, nor enough users/uses.

The best thing that could happen would be an OPEC embargo.  Yes, it would be crazy for a year or two, but in the long run it would be the best thing for the country.

[Spider-Dan]

The only real impact politicians can have on gasoline prices is to regulate speculation.

If the U.S. alters it's petroleum production (by increasing or reducing domestic output), OPEC simply adjusts their production to compensate, so the net impact on the global market is nil.  Region-restrictions on gas exports are not at all feasible; if you think there has been an uproar over "government takeovers of healthcare," wait until you see several hundred million dollars of advertising decrying the government takeover of the capitalist free markets.  It would essentially be no different than if the feds tried to nationalize Exxon Mobil.

[bsmooth]

if you recall, right before that, it was also $3-4 a gallon.  It spiked in 2007-2008, and then went back down.  How come that got forgotten so quickly?

There are two companies facing charges for manipulating the prices during the spike from Feb-Apr 2008. Also once Congress threatened to look into price manipulation the price dropped.
In 2001 oil was $26 a barrel, it is currently around $106.
BP just agreed to a $7.8 billion settlement for the Gulf oil spill. Not court ordered, they came up with that amount.
That tells you just how much profit is in gas and oil.
By the way the administration has increased the number of permits for drilling in the Gulf and is almost back to pre-moratorium level.

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2012/02/one_year_after_deepwater_drill.html