Recent drops in prices at the pumps have many questioning whether Americans will continue on their path to efficiency or go back to their old, wasteful ways.

The national price for unleaded gas has dropped more than 125 percent from a year ago. Diesel prices have fallen more than 80 percent.

If you're looking for a ray of hope during these dark economic days, plummeting prices at the gas pumps isn't it. In fact, this pump-side reprieve might just be a curse in disguise. Cheap gas is as much a sign of a sick economy as home foreclosures or the mess that's unfolding in Detroit with the Big Three American automakers. It also gives motorists an excuse to go back to their gas-guzzling ways, by fostering the perception that it is no longer a financial imperative to be efficient. Nothing could be further from the truth, according to the experts.

Low Prices Are Temporary

After topping $4.00 a gallon just a few months back, gas prices have fallen to their lowest levels in almost four years. And some experts forecast that unleaded will drop as low as $1.50 a gallon in coming months.

Although there is still heated debate over how low gas prices will actually fall, all of the experts we talked with agree on one thing: Cheap gas is not here to stay.

"Continued volatility in gas prices should be expected," says Kelly Sims Gallagher of the Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School. "Gas prices will increase again. Reduced demand based on the economic downturn is only temporarily pushing them down."

Cheap Gas Also Has Consequences

While a return to $2-a-gallon gas is a nice break for cash-strapped Americans, it remains to be seen how this cheap gas will affect our future vehicle purchases and our government's policies toward fuel economy. Will lower costs at the pumps send us "from shock to trance," as President-elect Barack Obama recently put it, sending Americans running back to their gas guzzlers, or will the public continue to embrace smaller, more fuel-efficient cars and hybrids?

In a recent 60 Minutes interview, Obama said that with oil under $60 a barrel, doing something about the energy predicament is more important than ever. "It may be a little harder politically," he said, "but it's more important."

Why, you ask? We could be looking at a setback for high-mpg, low-carbon auto technology. "I believe the future will bring unnerving volatility, not permanently higher oil prices," says Vijay Vaitheeswaran, environment and energy correspondent for The Economist. "And that can be the enemy of greener fuels and clean technology because, as happened in the 1990s, low oil prices lead to lack of investment in green fuels."

Don't Look Back

Sales statistics don't lie. They clearly show that high gas prices have consumers driving smarter and turning away from SUVs and other gas guzzlers and toward smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles such as the MINI Cooper and hybrids such as the Toyota Prius. And the larger utility vehicles people are buying tend to be smaller crossover models, such as the Honda CR-V and Ford Escape, that get better gas mileage and offer a better ride than their more hefty siblings.

"Consumers should continue to purchase a vehicle that fulfills their needs in as fuel-efficient a model as they can find," says Michael Quincy, an auto expert for Consumer Reports. "People will need to look long and hard at need versus want."

A bonus for those who do choose to stay on track and choose more fuel-efficient rides is reduced maintenance costs. Consumer Reports' recent reliability ratings found that the most dependable cars are often the most fuel-efficient, with hybrids scoring exceptionally well.

Break the Addiction

Cheap gasoline comes as a break for a country suffering some of the worst economic blows in recent history. But if we go back to our old habits, and Detroit keeps pumping out gas guzzlers, we haven't really progressed, but merely moved back into our comfort zone. As Obama said during his recent 60 Minutes interview: "We start filling up our SUVs again. As a consequence, we don't make any progress. It's part of the addiction."

Fact is, the best way for consumers to defend themselves against future price turmoil at the pump and to help reduce our dependence on foreign oil suppliers is to choose gas sippers instead of guzzlers. "The main thing that drivers can do is to buy more fuel-efficient cars so that high gas prices are not as burdensome when they return," Gallagher said.

oh boy.. I have become ok with the idea of paying $50 to fill my tank.. well yesterday morning.. I had to fill my tank... I figured Ill throw $30 in and top it off later.. it stopped at $25.. I questioned the guy.. i was like.. why isn't it filling? I was so surprised that it only took $25 to fill my tank I really didn't believe it.... had to start my car and check the needle to accept it...

I think after the oil companies drain all the money out of are economy. Then they didn't spend it. Thats what caused this recession.

I think the Arabs want people to get comfortable with temporary lower prices to keep automakers focused on building fossil fuel cars as long as possible. If the automakers of the world start to focus on electric cars and other fuel concepts, then the arabs will not have a market to sell their oil.
Check out this documentary called "Who Killed the Electric Car", you will be shocked at what happened.

http://johnlocker.com/all-videos/conspiracy/who-killed-the-electric-car.html

thank you for all who post pls pass this on to your friends

Bump!

Crude oil is a commodity that is subject to the fluctuation of the stock market.

Also, MUCH more is made with crude oil than just fuel.

-- It is required for most plastic products. Now look around your house at all the plastic stuff. Soda bottles, computer monitors and cases, flash lights, milk jugs, shipping tape dispensers, cell phones and regular telephones, clothing, eyeglasses, P.A. equipment used in live music performances and church services. Plastic is vurtually every where.


-- Ammonium nitrate fertilizer requires fossil fules. High yield genetically engineered food requires ammonium nitrate fertilizer. High yield food stuffs are things like field corn. Field corn is also now used to feed the chickens we eat, the beef cattle we eat, and even genetically engineered fish that can live off of corn. All of this stuff is tied to the oil fields and crude oil.


It is way beyond gas prices.

Fuel is only a very small portion of the dependency on crude oil the U.S. system has realized.

We now are burning food in gas tanks (ethanol and corn-based fuels) which is NOT a break from petroleum dependency... it is actually a deeper ditch dug in the petroleum dependency ditch. because in order to raise corn these days, the farmer needs to fertilize it with ammonium nitrate fertilizer, which has a base need for petroleum products.


One thing I could seriously consider is that this could be the end of the American lifestyle as we know it.

No matter how many military jets and bombs one has, those weapons cannot create crude oil.

However, I believe we have enough oil in this country to supply all of our needs. Oil is in Texas, the Gulf of Mexico, Alasak, North Dakota, California and other places.

What we can not break from is the dependency the oil companies have in vested interests of billions of U.S. dollars in these other countries as they have bought into Middle Eastern oil for profit. Now, they cannot pull out and allow the U.S. to be completely independent of these other countries, because the big oil companies would crash, having a severe derogatory effect on the entire economy.

I think the Bilderberg Group is f'in w/ us

last I saw the price of oil was $45 a barrel

about 1/4th of the country's economy is in oil production, transportation, and distribution. And $45 a barrel is not sustainable. The American oilfields are in the process of shutting down as we speak. That means several thousand more layoffs and the accompanying impact on local businesses. or in other words ANOTHER big hit to the economy

But, T Boone and others are predicting $200 a barrel oil within two years. time to stock up and hoard

Sorry to tell you, but most of our oil doesn't even come from the "ARABS".


Approximately 40% of America's oil comes from domestic oil fields in states like Texas, Alaska, and California. Some of this oil is actually sold to other countries, such as Japan. The other 60% of the US oil supply is from foreign sources. Contrary to popular belief, however, the US has very diverse oil interests all over the world, and receives oil and petroleum products from almost every continent on Earth. This diversity within the US oil supply allows allows for the manufacture of a wide range of petroleum products, using crude oil of various chemical makeups.

Canada, Saudi Arabia, Colombia, Nigeria, Angola, and Iraq all contribute sizable amounts to the US oil supply. America also imports oil from Kuwait, Norway, the United Kingdom, Venezuela, Equatorial Guinea, and Algeria. Numerous other countries ship refined oil products to the United States to supplement the output of American refineries. The diversity of the US oil supply makes it difficult to cut off the country's supply of oil altogether, although wrinkles in the supply chain could be problematic.

Also check out this map.....

http://watthead.blogspot.com/2006/03/where-does-your-oil-come-from.html

I think most Americans know the price of gasoline will go back up to probably the $2.50 to $3.00 range over the summer.I spend alot of time studying economics,business,and the oil market and once the economy shows even the slightest sign of a upswing the price of oil will jump in leaps and bounds.Alot of the record high oil prices a few months ago was due not to demand but by speculation of investors.When spring and summer arrives people will be driving more and demand will increase raising the price of oil.

One good thing that did come out of the record high oil and gas prices is companies did conserve and cut back.The second biggest consumer of diesel fuel in world is the Union pacific railroad.The Union pacific used to let their locomotives run all the time but it is now policy that they shut them down when not using them.This alone would save at least 2 billion gallons of diesel fuel a year as your average locomotive burns 6 gallons a hour just sitting there.Take over 9,000 locomotive with 80% of them running at one time and that's alot of fuel.If the other railroads conserved more it would probably drop the price of oil by half.

I don't think people will go back to their old ways after being burned so badly by the greed of the oil companies.I think gasoline demand will continue to drop as people buy more efficient cars.I don't think we will see 147 dollars for a barrel of oil again for a long time.I think it will probably go back up to around 70-80 and stay there for the rest of next year.

Did anyone check out the link???Durrr