17 responses to “Chart of the Day: Gas Prices”

1. 

   Dave Schuler

   January 4, 2015 at 5:49 pm

   As I’ve mentioned from time to time over at my place, there is a non-conformist theory of the Great Recession that the actual cause of the recession was the sharp spike in oil prices. Just a thought.
2. 

   Tony W

   January 4, 2015 at 9:10 pm

   @Dave Schuler: No doubt a big factor. The entire United States suffers from the wholesale transfer pricing power of OPEC and others.
3. 

   RGardner

   January 5, 2015 at 1:24 am

   Another factor is increased gasoline taxes, averaging ~$0.50/gallon in 2014. My state has a volume tax only (not sales tax) as do some other states, so the decrease in cost will not affect the tax collections (actually more driving = more revenue, but expect whining about revenues in the states that mostly have a sales tax).
4. 

   al-Ameda

   January 5, 2015 at 12:19 pm

   Isn’t someone going to point out that if Obama wasn’t standing in the way of the Keystone Project, that gas prices would be even lower?

   This seems like a great opportunity for Republicans to blame Obama.
5. 

   James Pearce

   January 5, 2015 at 12:47 pm

   @Dave Schuler:

   the Great Recession that the actual cause of the recession was the sharp spike in oil prices.

   Makes me wonder what caused the sharp spike in oil prices….
6. 

   Franklin

   January 5, 2015 at 1:09 pm

   I see the WSJ cherrypicks to support their conclusion that pump prices remain high in inflation-adjusted dollars, by deciding that 1986 is the cutoff point. But we can plainly see that the real price is approximately the same in 1976 and now, with periods above and below, making it pretty average right now. (Yes, this means I’m cherrypicking 1976 as the cutoff point …)
7. 

   ernieyeball

   January 5, 2015 at 1:17 pm

   Per GasBuddy the lowest gas price where I live is $1.889/gal.
   http://www.illinoisgasprices.com/index.aspx?area=Carbondale
   Thank You President Gingrich!

   Now, can we get to $2.50? Can we get to $2? It was $1.13 when I was speaker. It was $1.89 when Obama was sworn in.
   I mean, $2.50 is not some inconceivable number, except in the Washington establishment, which also explains to you why whatever you want to do that’s good for the American people can’t be done.

   https://drjjoyner-cmlud.wpcomstaging.com/newt-gingrichs-gasoline-price-fantasies/
8. 

   gVOR08

   January 5, 2015 at 1:32 pm

   @Franklin:

   WSJ cherrypicks to support their conclusion

   Say it ain’t so;-)
9. 

   ernieyeball

   January 5, 2015 at 1:52 pm

   Days of Future Passed-January 2011
   https://drjjoyner-cmlud.wpcomstaging.com/back-to-4gallon-gas/

   When gas hits $4 the fear may be that people will pay that to drive to DC and start stringing up the incompetents in charge. It’ll be nice, cherry blossoms and desiccated elite to greet the global warming.

   You can drill every source of oil within our waters, there simply isn’t enough cheap oil left to make a difference of more than a few pennies per gallon.

   And $4-6 is not an unreasonable expectation in the coming years…
10. 

    lounsbury

    January 5, 2015 at 4:12 pm

    Out of sheer curiosity a bit of googling turned up this:

    The Average Inflation Adjusted Price of Gas

    The average price of a gallon of gas from 1918 to the present is $2.60 in June 2013 inflation adjusted dollars. So it is safe to say that anytime during that period that the price of gas was above $2.60 in inflation adjusted terms it was expensive and whenever it was below that price it was cheap.

    A 1918-2013 inflation adjusted average is fairly not cherry picked on might say, so it looks like presently USA is at long-term average.
11. 

    Tyrell

    January 5, 2015 at 4:48 pm

    When gas prices go back up to $3 + a gallon we will hear the same excuses that we have heard before. Many remember the gas “crisis” of the ’70’s that brought rationing, long lines, closed stations, service station attendants directing traffic, and prices doubling. We heard some of the same excuses. There was no “shortage”. Storage tanks were full, so much so that tankers had to wait in ports. And once the gas stations were closed and converted to “convenience” stores, with their 300% markup on food and snacks, there suddenly was no more shortage. The biggest hoax ever pulled on the American people.
    See “Gashole” about the oil/government complex.
12. 

    lounsbury

    January 5, 2015 at 6:17 pm

    @Tyrell:
    Righto mate, righto. And of course moon landings are faked too.
13. 

    ernieyeball

    January 5, 2015 at 8:17 pm

    @Tyrell: The biggest hoax ever pulled on the American people.

    I dunno Ty. The Teapot Dome Scandal was pretty wicked as was Watergate. And we know that they really happened.
    As for the “300% markup on food and snacks”. All the Kwick-E-Marts I see are competing like crazy for your coffee $ and the mud is cheap and pretty good too!
    If consumers don’t want to Kum & Go they can choose to hit the Dollar Store that will b nearby if not right next door.
    http://www.kumandgo.com
    SFW (too bad perverts)
14. 

    Tyrell

    January 5, 2015 at 9:18 pm

    @ernieyeball: Looks like a good place, wish we had one around here. The convenience stores have done better about competitive pricing. For so many years their prices were exorbitant, now they are more reasonable. I will search their sites for locations.
15. 

    ptfe

    January 6, 2015 at 1:18 pm

    @ernieyeball: I do appreciate the SFW battle in the Midwest between Kum N Go and Pump ‘n Munch.
16. 

    Guarneri

    January 7, 2015 at 12:04 am

    @al-Ameda:

    When you hear the voices do they fade naturally or only with medication?
17. 

    ernieyeball

    January 7, 2015 at 12:34 am

    @ptfe:..Kum N Go and Pump ‘n Munch.

    Yikes! Never heard of P ‘n M!
    Is Loaf ‘n Jug in the running?
    My favorite has always been In and Out Burger…