'Don't Sweat' High Gas Prices -- They're a 'Good Sign'
You've probably noticed that those prices at the pump have risen considerably over the last month or so. But don't worry! It's not that big a deal! Well, according to Yahoo! Finance's Daniel Gross, that is. Why? Well, Americans are consuming less gas per capita than a few years ago, cars are more fuel efficient, and people are just plain getting weary of more and more traffic (and, hence, are driving less):
There's also evidence that Americans' long-running love affair with the road is beginning to wane a bit. Driving is less fun when you're always stuck in traffic. These statistics from the U.S. Department of Transportation show the number of miles driven by buses, trucks, and cars from 1957 to 2008. From 1990 to 2000, total miles driven rose from 2.17 trillion to 2.75 trillion, up about 26 percent. But between 2000 and 2008, total mileage rose less than seven percent, from 2.75 trillion to 2.94 trillion. Miles driven fell in 2008.
Oh ho! So, total miles driven between 2000-2008 dropped substantially when compared to the previous decade. I seem to recall a guy named George W. Bush being in the White House then, and don't recall any such pronouncements of "Relax!" from people like Gross. (Although Gross actually debunked conspiracy theories that G.W. Bush manipulated energy prices to coincide with elections, I wonder if he wrote the headline of this Slate article of his ... especially since it isn't until the very last line of the column that he definitively exonerates the administration.) Gross's declaration isn't stand-alone. WRAL.com in North Carolina recently headlined "Economist: Rising gas prices 'good sign.'"
NC State economist Mike Walden sees a silver lining in higher gas prices, saying it means the US economy has regained its footing and is getting back up to speed. "Gas prices going up is actually a good sign," Walden said. "$3 is normal. When we were down in the $2 (range), that was abnormal due to the recession. "I don't see anything diabolical, mysterious or underhanded here," he continued. "I think it's just a sign that the worldwide economy is better now than it has been over the last three years."
Contrast that to some of these WRAL.com headlines from the previous administration:
- Oil Companies Blamed for Gas Prices (July 2007).
- Attorney general to probe gas prices; N.C. average tops $4 (September 2008).
- High gas prices take toll on charity workers (August 2008).
- N.C. gas prices sit high above national average (October 2008).
These are just further examples of what Newsbusters' Julia A. Seymour wrote about back on December 30th. If you haven't yet read her excellent article, be sure to check out how the MSM portrayed increases in gas prices during 2004-2008.
- D. S. Hube's blog
- Login to post comments
Comments
Wow!!
Submitted by Newsbubba on Sat, 01/08/2011 - 11:17am.
When I filled up for $3.59 a gallon the other day I didn't realize that it was "good news!"
I thought that both the car and I were just getting hosed.
Thank you, Messiah. I can hardly wait to get hosed at the boat dock. That should be even better news for the economy!
So that is the sign of a good economy....?
Submitted by NeoKong on Sat, 01/08/2011 - 12:24pm.
People are driving less, consuming less and prices are going up...? No. What that is is a sign of green eco-leftist getting their wish. Greedy Americans are beginning to be put in check by making them a little less wealthy. People are changing their indulgent consumer ways by having less money while at the same time things are costing more. But that is their goal now isn't it ? They want to change our behavior and make us all go green by making gasoline and fossil fuel cars so damn expensive that we will be forced eventually to drive little battery powered clown cars that will save the earth and stuff. And naturally all these new cars will be powered by windmills and solar panels and backyard compost heaps even though the technology does not yet exist. The glomosexuals do not care about that though. That is how they accomplish their goals. They know that no one will ever willingly go along with all their utopian lunacy so they much manufacture an artificial crisis to force people to do what they want. That is why the Democrats like Obamacare. It is purposely designed to collapse the private healthcare industry and eventually dump everybody but the beautiful people into single payer rationed care.
NC now has it's highest gas
Submitted by ricklail on Sat, 01/08/2011 - 11:37am.
NC now has it's highest gas prices ever thanks to an increase in the tax. The tax is based on the wholesale price of gas. Now that it is over $3 the tax has reached its highest ever. It is at 32.5 cents per gallon. That does not include the .18 cent federal. I was 3.10 a gallon where I buy mine today. All this was caused by the Dems that ran this state for so many years. I want to see if the Rep will change it.
Production
Submitted by jon_torlin on Sat, 01/08/2011 - 12:09pm.
The greenies are getting what they want, there hasn't been a new refinery in this country for over 30 years and every time an oil company tries to get one built, even in the most inhospitable of climates like parts of Arizona, the greenies get a judge to shut them down.
Add to that of the moratorium on offshore drilling which is illegal and oil wells in this country not being allowed to re-open plus the number of blends(40 plus!!!) of gas in the existing refineries(not to mention making ethanol gas), and you have the recipe of gas prices going up. Plus we have the Chairman himself saying he WANTS high gas prices.(the repercussion of that is everything else goes up in prices)
The biggest lie everyone is being told which needs to be challenged at all times is that oil = pollution. All this nonsense about "green energy" is just that, nonsense. When people realize that, it's going to go the way of the Beta video tape. The only problem with that is people are going flat broke before they realize it and yet they are all a-quiver thinking they need to save the planet.
Using common sense will save the planet. Hybrids won't save the planet. Solar panels won't save the planet. Windmills won't save the planet. Tiny cars won't save the planet(they actually increase the death toll in accidents on the highway).
I had to cancel a 400 mile(one way) road trip to see some friends that was supposed to happen next weekend. I sure as hell have no intention of flying there (Thanks TSA!) But the cost of gas is going to be more than one night in the hotel where they are meeting.
This is an absolutely ridiculous situation to be in.
High gas prices are good? Screw that!
-Jon
How................................
Submitted by Patriot II on Sat, 01/08/2011 - 11:41am.
Do you spell B-U-L-L-S-H-Y-T ????
Close, Patriot.
Submitted by Newsbubba on Sat, 01/08/2011 - 12:32pm.
I prefer B-U-L-L-S-H-I-I-T-E. Seems more appropriate under the circumstances.
If Obama had an "R" behind his name, Gross and his fellow...
Submitted by Dave. on Sat, 01/08/2011 - 11:46am.
...travelling Marxist/commie/statist propagandists would be telling us that he doesn't care about the poor, poor, pitiful poor.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
The Thomas Friedman road to prosperity. Higher gas prices
Submitted by redright88 on Sat, 01/08/2011 - 11:48am.
Tommy drags out his "we need a high gas tax" editorial at least twice a year. Dreaming lovingly at an America with one million windmills, and hundreds of square miles of solar panels. Holding celebrations as each oil well is capped and every coal mine shut down.
Liberal progress=peddling a bike to work, and showering with rainwater you collected in a barrel. (cold water of course...that water heater uses energy.)
Wait, you mean all those
Submitted by Rusty Shackleford on Sat, 01/08/2011 - 11:54am.
Wait, you mean all those unemployed people sit around at home instead of driving to a place they no longer work at on a daily basis? I'm shocked!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chris Matthews: The Joy Behar of MSNBC.
Bill Maher: The Joy Behar of HBO.
Paul Krugman: The Joy Behar of The New York Times.
Rusty
Submitted by ricklail on Sat, 01/08/2011 - 12:05pm.
There are no even driving to find work anymore. I drive 12 miles a day round trip to work. My wife drives 1/4 mile. (She works at the HS next door.) We got to church and to my daughter's house eveery week. I really don't know how I could drive any less
Geez...I never thought of that.
Submitted by NeoKong on Sat, 01/08/2011 - 12:23pm.
Maybe the milage is down because so many people have no reason to leave the house in the morning. Seven million unemployed people can sure save a lot of gas.
FYI Re: WRAL and Gas Prices
Submitted by Candance Moore on Sat, 01/08/2011 - 2:05pm.
Back in March of 2008 WRAL reported that high gas prices were nefarious:
Spikes in gas prices are directly related to the economic slowdown, the weakening dollar and speculation in investment markets, Parsons said.
"The latest spike prices are not fueled by either demand for gasoline or tight markets," he said. "Instead, it is driven by unprecedented levels of investment in crude oil and gasoline futures as a hedge against the falling dollar and a safe haven from sliding prices in other investments, such as real estate, equities and bonds."
Later in April, WRAL interviewed the 'good sign' Economics professor. Observe:
The cost of oil is fueling market-wide inflation, said Mike Walden, an economics professor at North Carolina State University...
Plastic uses petroleum, so food packaging costs have increased. Some ingredients like corn, which is increasingly used to make ethanol as an alternative fuel, also have gone up in price.
"We're taking corn, which is important as a feed to livestock, out of the food system and into the fuel system," Walden said...
The price of gasoline itself also pushes up food costs.
"We in this country rely on products and, to some extent, services being driven by vehicle," Walden said.
In less than 3 years we went from "painful" fuel costs and "inflated" food prices - to an economic boom that can "accomodate" $4 gas.
I had a round with WRAL over this and received a damage-control email last Tuesday.
~Major, MAJOR egg on their faces
Submitted by Wrathful Brunette on Sat, 01/08/2011 - 2:50pm.
Media bias just doesn't get any more blatant than that.
More cars per highway mile, is way way up.
Submitted by upcountrywater on Sat, 01/08/2011 - 2:14pm.
When was the last time some serous highways were built?
1956 was the year, the Interstate program started, Cost 25 billion.
Lots of google searches still yap about that....
Saturday morning cartoon..
You Didn't Build That.
Lowered Expectations
Submitted by Phryj1 on Sat, 01/08/2011 - 4:18pm.
So now they're telling us $3.00+ a gallon is what we're SUPPOSED to be paying for gas? And that we should be happy about it?!? Of course, they're also saying around 6% unemployment will also be the new normal. So, lower those expectations, everyone! Higher costs and lower standards of living are, apparently, what Obama had in mind when he was talking about fundamentally changing America. Well, he never said it would be a change for the better!
Progressives seem to be completely averse to facts and logic. Apparently, reality has a conservative bias.
There's really no good reason
Submitted by ThatDude on Sat, 01/08/2011 - 9:55pm.
There's really no good reason for oil to go down or stay low at the moment. The greenies are mandating that all energy (including their "green" energy) costs more. Government intervention is preventing the US from tapping into its own supply and providing a larger portion of our own fossil fuel needs. However, if you ignore the government tweaking prices up then the simple economics would give you an answer as to why gas is about to make a huge rise in price. All commodities are increasing at the moment due to the fed printing large sums of money and our dollar is massively devalued. I smell stagflation and gas lines on the horizon.