Before this recession ever got started our economy was seriously hindered and limited by the cost of fuel. Everything that we as Americans buy is transported by trucks or ships. Because of the former increase in gasoline prices the cost of shipping products went up, and as a result of this increase many consumers saw the effect on store shelves. Americans tried to accommodate for the rise in gas prices by purchasing less and being more conservative with their money. This conservation resulted in the economy progressively slowing down until the big economic crisis in September.
The lowering of gas prices makes this recession a little bit more manageable. Just imagine average Americans living in these times of trouble and still having to pay $4 a gallon. I believe if that was the case this recession would not be just a recession; it would be a huge downward spiral into a depression. However because of the lower gas prices consumers can let out a tiny sigh of relief.
Even though it is very true that the gas prices have been lowered due to the economic crisis I feel like these new prices can really help our economy get back on track. The couple of dollars per gallon that have been cut is equal to an economic stimulus of $240 billion. In my mind I believe this takes an enormous load off of the government, who if not for the lower gas prices would probably have to give relief to many more Americans. Other blogs agree that the lowering of gas prices will take a huge load off of Americans and the lowering of gas prices may prove to be a factor in an economic turnaround.
Other blogs do not agree with my opinion that lower gas prices will have a better overall result because they believe that we cannot trade the effect it will have on the ecology for the effect it will have on the economy. All I have to say to this is the only reason Americans can worry about the environment is because of the economic stability that this country has. Other countries that are less fortunate then us cannot worry about the economy because they have to make a profit by any means possible. The difference is that America is a country that is established enough and powerful enough to actually consider trying alternative fuels and new means of production. I believe that if this economic crisis gets to a certain point then America will no longer be able to be ecologically friendly and will have to resort to dirtier methods in order to make a profit.
7 comments:
Sure the gas prices are low, but in this economy, who can afford them?
Of course, I am speaking for people outside of affluent villages like Northbrook. Many people were hit hard by the recent economic downturn and the decreased gas prices are barely helping them.
I agree with michael having cheaper gas prices might not be as good as you might think. If the oil based economy is already in a whole having cheap gas prices might pull them out. This is true but having cheap gas prices slows down our oil factories because they wont be able to expand as fast and fill the need of the United States. Is it worth it? can we affored to slow down our oil economy?
I too agree, even though the gas prices lowered our economy is still pretty bad and many people can not afford it. Many people are laid off because of the poor economy and taxes are raised. Sooner or later i think we will head to depression because as we learned in History class, there is always an economic cycle. We have reached depression before and there is a small cahnce it can happen again.
Not to be a Debbie Downer, but I have to disagree.
Low gas prices will probably and substantially help our struggling economy. Our entire economy is structured upon oil dependency because there is no other energy substitution. If there is a cost effective fuel, then business can run more effectively, and businesses and market competitiveness are pivotal to maintaining a healthy economy. Furthermore, every other national institution, like the MILITARY is dependent on petroleum --- the air force utilizes the most. If we didn't have cheap oil, we wouldn't even be able to deploy our forces to hotspots around the world.
Given, it's probably time to find a new alternative to petroleum. For instance, Obama is advocating that we switch to renewables, such as biomass, solar, wind, geothermal, etc. However, we are NOT there yet and still heavily dependent. We need cheap oil to survive.
Hopefully, prices can remain around 50 dollars. If OPEC decides to implement production cuts this Wednesday (12/17/08), then prices can skyrocket back up to at least 70 dollars --- the new benchmark price then could easily become 100 dollars a barrel.
Even if some people can't afford oil prices, there is no other alternative. And, why are oil companies necessary to stabilize the economy? They can still operate with lower prices, they just can't make a ton of profits like they used to when prices were 150 dollars a barrel back in July.
In our economy today we don’t need gas prices to increase rather decrease. Though that should not be the stand point of the economy we should not be focused on oil. If there is more sub stance crisis of keeping our planet green and improving the environment with a better way to fuel our cars.
The falling gas prices are definitly helping our economy. If the gas prices where extremely high, not many people would continue to use their cars and/or trucks as often as they do now. Oil, however, is a essential part of our transportation system that we can not risk giving up. We need gas in order to transport goods, run our military, and much more. In order to become less dependent on oil,alternative fuels should be further researched and implemented into transportation.
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