Gas 'Em Up
I imagine most of you have noticed, at least in the States, that gas prices have fallen rather significantly within an unexpectedly short period of time.
Now, I'm as pleased as the next car owner that they've fallen so far, and I'd love it to drop below $2 a gallon again, but the big question I've been asking more often is: Why?
Why has it fallen so much, so drastically, so quickly? I haven't heard about the Katrina-hit refineries coming back online, the Alaska pipeline work hasn't been completed... is OPEC just forking it over?
Whenever we hear about gas prices going up, it's almost always because of problems that sound trivial in the larger scheme - a few refineries going offline, or a raise in prices by OPEC, or any number of things. To not hear about *anything* that satisfactorially explains such a massive drop bothers me. We're not tapping into our Federal reserves, even. I *have* heard about more trapped gas being discovered nearby... somewhere off the Gulf coast, if memory serves, but that was just a discovery; it hasn't been tapped yet. Prices might fall a bit about speculation over that discovery, but not almost $1 a gallon.
In the end, I'm really beginning to believe in a few opinions I've read online, that the lower prices are related to the upcoming elections. Not just the Bush administration, mind you, but the oil companies, other policians, and everyone that stands to gain from Americans being happy about lower gas prices. It's a Sign Of A Good Economy, right?
So much for supply and demand, at least in the terms of pure market forces. Free Market, my tail.
Now, I'm as pleased as the next car owner that they've fallen so far, and I'd love it to drop below $2 a gallon again, but the big question I've been asking more often is: Why?
Why has it fallen so much, so drastically, so quickly? I haven't heard about the Katrina-hit refineries coming back online, the Alaska pipeline work hasn't been completed... is OPEC just forking it over?
Whenever we hear about gas prices going up, it's almost always because of problems that sound trivial in the larger scheme - a few refineries going offline, or a raise in prices by OPEC, or any number of things. To not hear about *anything* that satisfactorially explains such a massive drop bothers me. We're not tapping into our Federal reserves, even. I *have* heard about more trapped gas being discovered nearby... somewhere off the Gulf coast, if memory serves, but that was just a discovery; it hasn't been tapped yet. Prices might fall a bit about speculation over that discovery, but not almost $1 a gallon.
In the end, I'm really beginning to believe in a few opinions I've read online, that the lower prices are related to the upcoming elections. Not just the Bush administration, mind you, but the oil companies, other policians, and everyone that stands to gain from Americans being happy about lower gas prices. It's a Sign Of A Good Economy, right?
So much for supply and demand, at least in the terms of pure market forces. Free Market, my tail.