Gas prices have nothing to do with elections.

 

Says politicians and we know we can't trust them.

$2.99 in Hardinsburg this week. $2.98 in Hawesville. :clap:

Says politicians and we know we can't trust them.

 

Says logic and understanding of markets.

 

Tell me how the US govt can cause prices to drop.

Says logic and understanding of markets.

 

Tell me how the US govt can cause prices to drop.

 

There are lots of ways. None of them is attributable to overnight drops or has anything to do with prices dropping right before elections, but the government can affect prices in many ways, not the least of which is not clamping down on domestic production and refining, which seems to be what's happened lately.

There are lots of ways. None of them is attributable to overnight drops or has anything to do with prices dropping right before elections' date=' but the government can affect prices in many ways, not the least of which is not clamping down on domestic production and refining, which seems to be what's happened lately.[/quote']

 

My point was aimed at overnight drops.

Gas prices have nothing to do with elections.

 

They don't but they do. They fall every time leading up to elections. The special interest take a few weeks off their profit spreadsheets.

Gas prices typically drop every fall, regardless of whether there is an election or not. The switch from summer blends (required by the EPA) which are more expensive, coupled with the summer driving season over, there is less demand. Less demand equals more supply and falling prices. Gas prices typically bottom out around the end of the year and reach their peak in April or May. Nothing to do with elections, just simply the way the market works for this commodity.

Gas prices typically drop every fall' date=' regardless of whether there is an election or not. The switch from summer blends (required by the EPA) which are more expensive, coupled with the summer driving season over, there is less demand. Less demand equals more supply and falling prices. Gas prices typically bottom out around the end of the year and reach their peak in April or May. Nothing to do with elections, just simply the way the market works for this commodity.[/quote']

 

So why is it still 3.15 in half of Cincy with oil down 20 dollars?

Gas prices typically drop every fall, regardless of whether there is an election or not. The switch from summer blends (required by the EPA) which are more expensive, coupled with the summer driving season over, there is less demand. Less demand equals more supply and falling prices. Gas prices typically bottom out around the end of the year and reach their peak in April or May. Nothing to do with elections, just simply the way the market works for this commodity.

Check out the link in post #15...seems to drop in election years, drops more during presidential elections and stays pretty flat in odd (non-election) years.

Earlier this year U.S. production was already at its highest levels since the 1980s and is about to move into 1970s levels and beyond. OPEC price cutting has countered that and a race to the bottom has begun.

 

I didn't realize in the 90's and 00's oil production was that much less than it was in the 1970's. Did production drop off due to environmental regulations or more fuel efficient cars or both?

 

I guess another reason is since the 70's, fewer and fewer homes are heated with heating oil, they are converted to Natural Gas.

I didn't realize in the 90's and 00's oil production was that much less than it was in the 1970's. Did production drop off due to environmental regulations or more fuel efficient cars or both?

 

I guess another reason is since the 70's, fewer and fewer homes are heated with heating oil, they are converted to Natural Gas.

 

Cheap Oil also kept US Production low

 

Domestic Crude Prices were:

$37 in 1980

$14 in 1986

$20 in 1991

 

Historical Oil Prices: InflationData.com

I didn't realize in the 90's and 00's oil production was that much less than it was in the 1970's. Did production drop off due to environmental regulations or more fuel efficient cars or both?

 

I guess another reason is since the 70's, fewer and fewer homes are heated with heating oil, they are converted to Natural Gas.

 

As you said, fuel efficiency and use of natural gas in heading both had big booms in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

 

The Alaska Pipeline was completed in 1977 and provided a MASSIVE domestic production boost at the time.

 

There were a number of factors including an almost complete end to new oil exploration in the U.S. following the oil glut of the 1980s when prices fell through the floor. Exploration wasn't nearly as lucrative when it looked like you may lose your shirt having to sell dirt-cheap oil.

 

The low prices were a boon for oil-consuming countries like the U.S., and a disaster for oil-producing countries like the Soviet Union, Mexico, and many of the OPEC countries.

 

To a certain extent, you can trace huge chunks of the American and Western European economic boom of the late 1980s back to the consequences of the oil glut of the early 1980s. Then the price spiked in 1990 in the wake of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait: prices more than doubled between July and October. It was a contributing factor in the recession that started that year.

Filled up for $2.93 the other day in Cincinnati. That's without any fuel points/discounts.

Filled up for $2.93 the other day in Cincinnati. That's without any fuel points/discounts.

 

I filled up last weekend in Greer, South Carolina for $2.85/gallon.

 

The real question for me isn't gas prices overall, but why Jefferson County, Kentucky's always seem to be about 30 cents more than anywhere else in the region.

I filled up last weekend in Greer, South Carolina for $2.85/gallon.

 

The real question for me isn't gas prices overall, but why Jefferson County, Kentucky's always seem to be about 30 cents more than anywhere else in the region.

 

Does Jefferson still have to use special formulated gas mandated by the EPA? And if I remember the changeover period caused higher prices in fall and spring.