Motorists welcome cheaper gas with pump prices down 78 cents a gallon from a year ago

December 13th, 2014by Dave Flessnerin BusinessPhillip Thornton, of Highland Village, Texas, puts gas in his vehicle after running out of fuel while waiting in line to pump gas, while a gallon of regular unleaded gas was advertised at $1.99 at Fuel City in Dallas on Dec. 12, 2014.






By the numbers

* $2.60 - Average nationwide price per gallon for gas on Friday, down 65.3 cents a gallon from a year ago
* $2.34 - Average price per gallon for gas in Chattanooga on Friday, down 78 cents a gallon from a year ago
* $2.14 - Cheapest price per gallon for gas in Chattanooga Friday at the Sam's Club in Brainerd Sources: AAA fuel gauge surveys and Gasbuddy.com Tease: Gas stations love lower prices, C-2


The plunge in oil prices may have shaken Wall Street Friday, but James Strong couldn't be happier.

As a Chattanooga-based expediter who delivers high-demand goods all over the country, Strong estimates the drop in gas prices over the past year is putting another $100 a week in his pocket.
"This is really boon for me and for all drivers," Strong said while filling up his Nissan NV cargo van at the Murphy USA station selling gas for only $2.17 a gallon Friday. "This could be devastating for a lot of people on Wall Street that bet wrong on oil prices, but for the people on Main Street it's a blessing and a half."
The 52-year-old driver retired from FedEx after 25 years and now drives from 130,000 to 160,000 miles a years delivering products for his company, First Flight Expedite.
"I"ve been doing this for three years and this is by far the best fuel environment I've ever seen," Strong said. "This is helping a lot of people save money and I don't see how that can't be good for the economy as a whole."
As oil prices plunged Friday to another five-year low, energy stocks fell and rippled through the stock market to pulled down the overall stock market.
But while oil companies and some price speculators have suffered from the drop in oil prices, motorists are clearly benefiting from lower prices at the pump.
Every penny that gas prices decline puts about $1 billion into Americans' pockets, according to Stephen Stanley, chief economist of Amherst Pierpont. With gas prices down nationwide by more than 65 cents a gallon in the past year, motorists are getting the equivalent of a $65 billion tax cut.
The AAA fuel gauge showed Friday that gas prices in Chattanooga fell to $2.34 a gallon -- 26 cents a gallon below the U.S. average and 78 cents a gallon below the year-ago price for gas in Chattanooga.
Further price cuts are expected as the ongoing drop in oil prices moves through refineries into the retail gas market.
Crude oil markets fell by more than 3 percent Friday after the world's energy watchdog forecast even lower prices on weaker demand and larger supplies next year.
Benchmark Brent oil settled Friday below $62 a barrel and U.S. crude slumped to under $58 to extend Thursday's landmark fall below $60.
On Friday, the Paris-based International Energy Agency which coordinates the energy policies of industrial countries, slashed its outlook for global oil demand growth for 2015 by 230,000 barrels per day to 900,000 barrels per day on expectations of lower fuel consumption in Russia and other oil-exporting countries.
"That's just more bad news for the oil markets," said Andrew Lipow, president of Houston-based Lipow Oil Associates.
AAA predicts that gas prices are likely to drop by another dime a gallon by Christmas and some analysts expect gas prices to fall below $2 a gallon within the next couple of weeks at some stations in low-cost markets like Chattanooga. Gas prices are already at their lowest point since 2009.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

"Even President Barack Obama likely would agree that 2014 has been a tough year for him—and he doubtless would welcome a sign that he will catch a break or two in 2015," Gerald Seib, the Washington bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal, wrote on Monday. " Well, here’s one: Low oil prices ... are shaping up as a win-win for the president."
Earlier on Monday, the price of both Brent and WTI crude hit a five-year low. Prices have fallen more than 30% since peaking in June, and the decline has accelerated since OPEC declined to cut production at its November meeting. Declining global demand and rising US production have led to a glut in supply this year.
Seib argued this price drop has both domestic and international benefits for the Obama administration. High gasoline prices, which result from high oil prices, are widely detested among American consumers. And many of the countries hurt by low oil prices could be on a who's-who list of US geopolitical foes.
"It's hard to imagine a single development that carries so many upsides and so few downsides. The domestic economic benefits are obvious," Seib wrote. "It just happens that the countries hurt most by the oil-price decline are on the current U.S. naughty list, from Iran and Syria to Russia and Venezuela. Meanwhile, many obvious economic and strategic beneficiaries—Jordan, Egypt, Israel and Japan among them—are on the nice list."
A senior administration official told the Journal the impact would be "very profound" in Russia, an oil exporter that has repeatedly clashed with the US over its recent annexation of Ukrainian territory.
"They may be heading into a recession," the official remarked, suggesting the Russian government may need to curtail its financial support for Ukrainian separatists. "There are going to have to be tradeoffs."
Seib said Obama would also see benefits in the Middle East, where the White House is hoping to negotiate a deal with Iran to rein in its nuclear program in exchange for ending economic sanctions. The jihadists of the Islamic State, or ISIS, also use oil sales to partially self-fund their military in Iraq and Syria.
"Iran’s predicament is similar and, from the American point of view, particularly well timed," Seib wrote. "The Obama administration has perhaps three months to pressure Iran into a long-term deal restricting its nuclear program. Only economic pressure has brought such a deal into view, and the pinch on Iranian oil revenues now will escalate the pressure at precisely the right time."

 

My man obama!

 

Hi `George, I think he's really trying to make things better, but he isn't getting much help...
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Gas Prices >Point-Counter Point<
Motoramic

Why cheap gasoline is the best thing for America

By Steven Lang December 16, 2014 10:46 AM Motoramic





(This is a counterpoint to our previous story: Why cheap gasoline is bad for America — Ed.)
Do you remember when gas was cheap? Every single year I pass by a landmark that reminds me of those wonderful days of not too long ago.
There is this old abandoned station I see on my family's annual trip to Myrtle Beach. It's an abandoned gas station from the Y2K era, and the prices for unleaded gas back then read out like a financial hallucination compared to today: $0.99 regular, $1.09 mid-grade, $1.19 premium
I am in love with the old gas sign on that building just because those three numbers remind me of a time when it wasn't so hard to make ends meet.
Gas was cheap. Used cars were fairly reasonable for those starting out, and everything from the price of food to the cost of a public education seemed to be quite doable for my young family.
Now, I fear for the monetary pitfalls my children may face in this brave new world where too many folks are lead to believe that legalized oil cartels and government tax policies should dictate gas prices. Sometimes it seems like I am visiting a parallel universe where inflation and a lack of mobility are actually seen as a good thing.
So let me just come out and say it.
"Cheap gas prices are the absolute best thing that could ever happen to our country, our civilization, and probably our planet in the long-run."
Let me explain why:
Cheap Gas Makes It Easier To Transport, Travel... And Innovate
This is as true for 20-somethings who want to commute to a nearby college and pursue a better life, as it is for 70-somethings who want to finally see the world and enjoy their golden years. Lower gas prices means more money to do the things that matter within our country, and the world for that matter — and less money for dictatorships and criminal mafias worldwide.
Low gas prices are not the main cause of air pollution.
You know what is the number one cause of air pollution today? Coal. The fuel source that helps power electric vehicles in 46 out of the 50 states is responsible for more air pollution — in smog and carbon dioxide — than any other source.
As for our cars?


Our emissions primarily depend on two things: fuel standards and catalytic converters. Those fuel standards are rising, and will keep doing so for the next decade at least; every new vehicle will be more efficient than its predecessor for many years to come, lowering our carbon emissions.
If a modern vehicle is operating properly with a Tier 3 fuel, a proper mixture of additives, and a working catalytic converter, the smog emissions level is going to reflect what most of us already see: Clear skies with only modest adjustments in the additive mix in heavily populated areas during the summertime, which equate to a cost of less than a penny a gallon a day.
U.S. pollution standards are tough — in some cities, the air coming out of a car's tailpipe is cleaner than that going in — but they're also the best in the world. You're more likely to find smog blanketing skyscrapers in London and Beijing than Atlanta or Philadelphia, and European officials have now begun moving toward American rules.
But what if people drive more?

The big problem that I see are catalytic converters that fail, and whose costs are almost always transferred to owners who can't afford to repair them.
More than half the trade-ins I see at auctions and car dealerships are due to cars that can no longer pass emissions. The government only requires a warranty of 8 years / 80,000 miles on a vehicle's catalytic converter (whichever comes first), even though most cars are designed to run well past 200,000 miles.
A lot of these vehicles that wind up in what we call in the car business "wholesale heaven" are simply ones that require an expensive repair that manufacturers gleefully mark up to several times their real cost, in great part because it's illegal for anyone to sell a used catalytic converter in the United States.
No competition and the creation of low long-term quality standards results in higher costs. Just like the legalized theft cartel that is OPEC, manufacturers have created legislation that effectively raises the cost of ownership, and creates an artificial planned obsolescence for a product that can easily last for many more years.
Cheap Gas Allows Our Hard Earned Money To Get Into The Right Pockets... Our Own.
The average American family with at least two drivers would spend $4,190 a year on fuel if prices were to stay at the $3.67/gallon they hit back in June when the price of oil spiked to $106 a barrel. (This assumes 598 gallons of gasoline consumed by the current average American driving 13,476 miles a year.)
If the price of gas were to remain in the inflation-adjusted average of $2.60 a gallon from the heights of last summer, the average family would save over $1,200. Every single year.
For millions of people, this could make the difference between a life of perpetual debt and poverty, and a life where the parasites of modern-day humanity — from cartels to usury lenders — have to find some other way to fill up.

 

One day, we will run out of oil and that will be a terrible day, as SO much depends on oil... We, as a PLANET need to figure out another type of fuel and stop so much pollution... I feel bad for the next few generations of humans...