BUT WILL THEY BOOST A FLAGGING CONSUMER ECONOMY?
|| By FITSNEWS || After a modest uptick earlier this year, gas prices are once again declining nationwide.
The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline currently stands at $2.57 – which is down from $2.76 a month ago and down from $3.47 a year ago, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge. Here in South Carolina the average price per gallon of regular unleaded currently stands at $2.19 – lowest in the nation. That’s down from $2.41 a month ago and $3.17 at this same time last year.
Take a look at the trend lines …
(Click to enlarge)
(Chart via)
As we’ve said many times, though, South Carolinians should pause before celebrating – and politicians should pause before mounting another attempt to raise the state’s gas tax. That’s because Palmetto State residents have some of the lowest income levels in America – meaning they pay a disproportionately high percentage of what they earn on gasoline. In fact they pay more for gas than residents of any other state save Mississippi and West Virginia.
When gas prices began their precipitous fall last year, many believed consumers would spend the money they saved at the pump.
That clearly hasn’t happened. Nor does it appear to be happening anytime soon.
Last month, the National Retail Federation cut its 2015 sales growth projection from 4.1 percent to 3.5 percent – citing “lackluster sales results.” Meanwhile wage growth in July was just 2.1 percent higher than the previous year, according to federal employment data. Adjusted for inflation, incomes have actually shrunk over the past year.
In other words there are still some serious economic headwinds out there ….
What are gas prices like in your neck of the woods? And more importantly, what are you doing with the money you’re saving at the pump? Post your thoughts in our comments section below …
68 comments
Flip and GrandTango just got the shit slapped out of them! Thanks Obama!
Waiting on flip’s update on gas prices in Ohio.
$2.50 in Ohio.$3,00 in Vegas and $4.00 in some spots in California..Obama had nothing to do with falling gas prices-natural shale production and OPEC has changed their strategy- his surrender to Iran has sent them into a free fall.Lower oil price and Israel gets nuked.
Can you imagine if gas prices were $3.50 as bad as the economy is? A depression.
WAAAHHHHHHH!!! Can you imagine if gas prices were something they aren’t? WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Seriously, though.
Yeah.Can you imagine if we didn’t have Obamacare and insurance premiums weren’t up 100% or if Seattle didn’t raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and everybody got layed off or if we didn’t have an a ‘closet’ muslim , American hating pResident occupying the wHite house?
WAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! I’m going to bring up Obamacare in a discussion about gas prices! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Trump said in 2009 that Obama was “a strong guy who knows what he wants,” a person with “the mark of a strong leader,” and “totally a champion.” He even bestowed the greatest Trumpian honor upon Obama, saying, “I would hire him.”
Maybe to clean toilets or shine his shoes.
A Trump fanboy like yourself is actually questioning, The Donald? Say it isn’t so!
Trump uses illegal aliens for that.
LMAO!!!! Obama fits that bill!!!! Did he ever find his birth certificate stuck in his last report card?
Yeah, it was stabled to his 4.0 GPA transcripts.
I guess that is why we aren’t allowed to see em? My guess is that they contain information that would have disqualified him for POTUS.
Really. Did we see Bush’s transcripts. Clintons? Bush 1? Reagans?
My insurance premiums, over the last six years, are up around 18%, or roughly 3% a year. Oh, and good morning to you and all the other residents of Crapville.
Morning Rocky.I see ‘closet’ muslim Obama is getting push back on closing Gitmo and returning his muslim buddies back to the battlefield? Ain’t as easy as what he pulled with traitor ‘Birdog’, is it?
Tell me he ain’t giving Gitmo back to that murderous dictator Castro?
No, we need a place for you after the 2016 victory. They have great pork sandwiches outside the gates.
After Hillary is convicted is she going to Gitmo? She should be tried for treason for exposing our national security secrets, don’t you think?
I’ll let President Biden decide that.
Can you imagine if gas prices were $1.00? Fabulous.
yes i can, actually i lived through a $3.50 a gallon economy under bush, it was called the great recession.
ouch
Oh.It was $1.87 when he left office.You liberals can’t keep your lie straight.
Now Obama is shutting down the coal plants.$500 heating bills soon to come.
nice deflection
June through August 2008 – started a new job where I was having to drive into a large metro area. Wive was using my car, and I got stuck having to use the Blazer. So don’t give me that crap. Ever have to commute in Blazer at $4.15 a gallon?
Gas was $1.87 a gallon when Bush left office. Fact! National avg….gas is $4.00 a gallon in California in some places TODAY.
National average July 2008 – gas was $4.10 – FACT! Now move on dot org to a new lie.
Face the facts: A fact check on gas prices – CBS News
http://www.cbsnews.com/…/face-the-facts-a-fact-check-on-gas-price...
CBS NewsMar 21, 2012 – As the debate over gas prices heats up, CBS News looks into claims made by … that had– gas prices were a dollar eighty-five a gallon when he took over.” The cost of gas was $1.84 just six days after President Obama’s inauguration. …. inoffice and also the peak of natural gas production in recent years, ..
Chasing your lies is a full time job Rocky.
Well now you have one – a full time job. Babang.
Bush absolutely wrecked everything, causing demand to go down. That’s why gasoline was so cheap. Thanks Bush, but no thanks.
Now we have low gas prices and an increasingly better economy thanks to Obama.
5.3% unemployment, inflation remains below 3%, housing prices on the rise. The economy really blows.
100 million adults not working….40 million on food stamps…this summer there were NO summer jobs for teenagers as seniors have to work a part-time/seasonal job and immigrants took jobs.
Real unemployment is 14%.Obama changed the way they calculate it.They stopped counting people that dropped out of the workforce.
Medicaid rolls are expanding and will bankrupt states.
Really. My teenager had no issue getting a summer job. Where do you live, Marietta OH?
So.Your NON citizen mother in-law get taxpayer funded Obamacare while millions of American citizens do without as they can’t afford it.I never said you were stupid,dishonest but not stupid.
Shame on you and a lemonade stand in front of your tent at the camp ground doesn’t count! :)
Millions of Americans do without insurance. You realize that number is down to the lowest level of all times. Got a problem with the law? Change it.
Flip’s one of ’em!
We’ll buddy, let’s be honest. Participation rate is 67%, versus 64% two years ago, so that’s up 3 people per 100. Why do you hate the growing number of stay at home Moms. Aren’t you under 65 and semi-retired? Why is that?
The drop in oil prices is due to the expected glut that will hit the market of the Iran deal goes through. The Iran deal endangers the world by lifting sanctions and allows for a nuclear Iran, country that wants to destroy not only Israel but the United States.
You guys can’t make up your mind.
I want lower gas prices but not at the expense of our national security and world security.
In the World of fits do men ever pump gas ?
My recollection is that whenever you post a story about “gas prices” the accompanying picture is either of a woman’s ass or tits
Maybe if you do a little searching, you can find a picture of Kelly pumping
Killer Bs – I love the Killer Bs.
Nice boo tay
Can I have ALL the INCREASED price I’ve paid for gas since Obama got elected? Energy, gas included, has been at ASTRONOMICAL prices for almost all of Obama’s control of this country.
Gas prices are cheaper than they were 8 years ago!!!!!
Not really: http://charts.gasbuddy.com/ch.gaschart?Country=USA&Crude=f&Period=120&Areas=USA%20Average%2C%2C&Unit=US%20%24%2FG
Who shut down the oil fields here in the US?
Didn’t mean to imply that anyone had – It’s a nuance thing presidential policy as executed by his agencies can adversely affect oil prices is a more accurate statement. Obama’s rhetoric during the Deep Well Horizon mess is an example between May of 10 and February of 11, Gas prices shot up mostly over what the president was saying he was going to do.
I want to the be perv that goes around taking pictures of women’s butts while they pump gas.
Will, you selection of “gas pumping butts” has been with one exception has been superb! Keep up the good work.
Oh yeah, falling gas prices, has nothing to do with the US and everything to do with Saudi Arabia trying (unsuccessfully so far) to stick it to Russia over oil sales to the burgeoning “soon to be largest consumer of oil” – China. http://nypost.com/2014/12/14/saudi-arabias-oil-war-against-iran-and-russia-2/
I often prefer the frontal shots myself.
Hey, someone last week was asking when was the last time gas was below $2. That would be January 2015, in SC. Looks like with Labor Day fast approaching, we might make it by mid-September 2015. Thanks Rock Obama.
What was the price of gas when President Obama took office?
http://www.quora.com › … › Politics
QuoraIn January 2009, the month Obama took office, the average price of a gallon of reguar gasoline in the US was $1.85, and Diesel $2.38.
They were still LOWER under Bush.
Yep, gas went way down during the Bush mini-depression. Not much demand for gas when you crash the economy and everybody is losing their jobs and their houses.. Before the crash however prices were above $4.00 a gallon. The only time that has ever happened.
So very true, but totally ignored by the RWNJs of the world because it doesn’t fit their nutty narratives.
When gas prices rise, FAUX NEWS covers it like a blanket but when they fall, not a peep is heard.
July 2008, average price per gallon was $4.06.
But look, let’s put this to rest right now. Let’s take 10 data points going backwards with the first month of each quarter. (US Energy Information Administration – Regular Gas)
October 2008 – $3.05 (Fell 90-cents next month AFTER Obama elected)
July 2008 – $4.06
April 2008 – $3.39
January 2008 – $3.05
October 2007 – $2.87
July 2007 – $2.95
April 2007 – $2.84
January 2007 – $2.24
October 2006 – $.2.25
July 2006 – $2.98
OK Flip – you finished now?
You did see in the article that the avg. gas price under Obama was still $3.17 just a YEAR ago?
Yawn. Gas prices reflect prices of oil. When oil prices are high, gas prices are high. Domestic product remained high as long as prices were high, so in effect, we all paid a private tax in higher prices for all those Dakota jobs (a simple thank you from them would be nice). And thank you OPEC for removing that private tax from us by increasing production to reduce the price.
During George W. Bush’s presidency, there was no end to the number of problems for which one man was considered responsible. Bush was blamed for the so-called struggling economy of the early 2000s (which compared to today looks like the “roaring” 1920s) and the stock market crash in October of 2008 (even though Democrats had controlled Congress since 2007). He was even blamed for the alleged global warming that caused Hurricane Katrina (even though manmade global warming is likely an elaborate fiction). If something went wrong from 2001 to 2008, Bush was to blame.
Now that President Barack Obama has made the White House his home for nearly six years, it’s hard to imagine that anyone could claim Bush is the cause of anything going on today, but that’s precisely the assertion I’m making here: Bush’s administration deserves the blame for the current reduction in oil prices.
George W Bush is not to blame for Global warming. Everyone knows everything was fine until Al Gore let all the ozone into the air.
After news broke that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed at its meeting in Vienna on Thanksgiving to keep oil production steady at 30 million barrels per day, the price of oil again fell, this time to its lowest mark since 2009. It is currently hovering around $65 per barrel.
According to multiple market analysts, the surprising decision from OPEC to keep production steady, allowing prices to plummet even further, was driven by a desire to stop the United States’ growing domestic oil shale market. Domestic U.S. oil production has dramatically increased since 2009, going from 5.2 million barrels produced per day to 7.2 million in 2013, according to a 2014 Congressional Research Service report.
Despite claims from some Democrats that Obama deserves the credit for the oil boom, his administration has done nothing to earn such praise. In fact, Obama’s policies are stunting oil production and preventing billions of dollars of development and the creation of millions of jobs from occurring in order to appease his leftist base.
Obama has opposed the development of oil shale and natural gas in a multitude of ways. One method is to make attaining a permit to drill on federal lands a longer and more difficult process. Compared to 2006, it took 41 percent longer to receive permission to drill on federal land in 2011.
Is it the purpose of government to play in oil markets? I thought markets were a function of capitalism.
Another way to prevent domestic oil production is to reject or revoke permits completely. Beginning in 2009, the year Obama started his first term, production on federal offshore land decreased from 1.48 million barrels per day to fewer than 1.3 million in 2013, and the percent of total domestic drilling on federal land declined from nearly 34 percent in 2009 to 23 percent in 2013.
The only reason domestic oil production has increased under Obama is because drilling on non-federalland has dramatically increased — from 3.4 million barrels per day in 2009 to 5.5 million in 2013.
Because drilling is a lengthy and complex process, many of those who attained permits under Bush’s presidency have only recently started to produce usable energy, giving the impression that Obama is somehow responsible for lower gas prices at the pump. Nothing could be further from the truth. If Bush was still president today, gas prices would be significantly lower, and millions more Americans would have well-paying jobs.
So drilling on private land bad, public land good? What’s your point exactly.
t was Bush — not Obama — who enacted policies that encouraged the development of lands in North Dakota, South Dakota and elsewhere. It was Bush who allowed companies to attain vital permits to drill offshore and onshore, creating countless jobs and generating billions of dollars of revenue. It was Bush that prevented the Environmental Protection Agency from imposing unreasonable and burdensome regulations on drillers while he was in office.
I am done. :)
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2014/12/05/blame-bush-for-low-gas-prices
Gasoline prices have nothing to do with who’s president.The oil companies control the Dems AND the Reps.Priorities and obligations.
The oil companies control the Dems AND the Reps.
The Petroligarchal Ruling Duopoly.
Yep.
Both Major U.S. Parties are Plagues on Humanity
http://www.blackagendareport.com/both_major_parties_plagues_on_humanity