- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Parenting
andyyougoonie
member
Political question: gas prices
andyyougoonie
member
in Parenting
Where H works, they leave the TV on for customers to watch. It was on Fox News. I know, I know, he doesn't determine the channel, he just works there and usually ignores it.
He texted me earlier that they were talking about how when Obama took office, the average fuel price was $1.84 and now it's $3.92. Gas is insane, we all know this. I don't know how much the President influences gas prices, but I remember when Bush was in office, he was blamed for high gas prices all the time.
So, I'm asking my very political and knowledgeable friends here, what is the reason for this significant price increase over the last 4 years? Do you blame Obama? Did you blame Bush 4 years ago?
Mom to two beautiful girls and forever labor buddy to the fab lady MandaPanda518!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Political question: gas prices
I'm not sure if a specific administration is to blame but the gas prices are determined by supply and demand on oil and what oil prices are doing. Oil has been going up significantly the past 5 years.
I did read an article that talked about how we may think gas has jumped up quite a bit but milk is really the biggest jump in price over the years - overall food prices have gone up at a rate much higher and more rapid than gas.
If I remember correctly, no. I am fairly certain is was just below 3$ a gallon 4 years ago. I haven't seen gas that cheap since I got my license at 16 (aka 2006).
I found this link: https://www.randomuseless.info/gasprice/gasprice.html
This guy has tracked his personal gas purchases.
Yeah, I just did a quick google search for 2007 and 2008 gas prices and the first few links of every source (CNN, treehugger, Reuters) were all way higher than that $1.84 figure.
ETA: I just looked and what pp said seems to be true, there was basically a big drop in gas prices right around the election/during campaigning (previously it was at $4.11 per gallon and it dropped a couple bucks). So, basically, gas prices fluctuate quickly.
Not that any of this addresses your question.
I did the chart. It does show that right after Obama took office gas prices dropped to about that range, but then quickly spiked less than a month later.
Also, this site has controlled for inflation.
I think that there are many factors that affect gas prices, and most of those are outside the control of the President. I know others believe the President could simply allow more drilling in the US and we'd all live happily ever after, but I don't agree. Why not conserve some of it, just in case? Even as a national security issue, we shouldn't be tapping all our potential oil supplies RIGHT.MEOW.
Beyond that, I don't think higher gas prices are necessarily bad. It's a dwindling resource and we, as a nation, need to focus more on conserving it. Reducing use, finding alternatives, etc. (FTR, I am not a fan of ethanol as fuel. Too much water use, among other things.)
Very briefly, but it's a cherry-picked number. When the poo started really hitting the fan with the global credit crisis, there was a lot of panicked selling of oil futures coupled with a drastic drop in demand. When the global economy is in the crapper, commodity prices tend to plummet.
These days the President of the US doesn't have a lot of control over the price of gasoline aside from potentially choosing to release barrels from our strategic oil reserve, and that's a limited, one shot kinda thing. Even OPEC doesn't control oil prices like they once did thanks to increased production in Russia and Venuzuela.
This is a very good answer. I didn't blame Bush. I don't blame Obama. It's too complicated of a system to put on one person's shoulders.
This is my siggy. Love it.
Not to mention, I think most people don't realize that we can't/wouldn't just drill oil and drop it off at the local BP. It is put into the world market and the proceeds go to corporation that drilled it. The argument is that if we add more oil to the market, prices will come down, but we've been drilling more and that's hasn't proven to be true. We simply don't have enough oil to have that big of an impact.
I would be much more open to drilling if the oil stayed within our country and our market.
This is my siggy. Love it.
So something like a 4-5% increase in 3 or 4 years?
I also question this statistic and I think it's completely wrong. I got married 4 years ago next month and I'm positive that gas was similarly priced at that time as now.
Edit: Just saw the grids. Like how the prices plummeted for a couple months and it is being reported like it was the annual average.
In NJ they where around that price. However, NJ is always one of the lowest places for gas. Which is surprising since everything else in this Godforsaken state is off the charts.
Also it doesn't really have to do w/ the presidency per say. Here is a good explination of how it works.
https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=gasoline_factors_affecting_prices
Um, no it wasn't. I was paying the same just before the election as I am now. Actually, I pay less for gas now because I drive a Prius!
I think the gas price "issue" is asinine. It doesn't mean we should drill more or invade more oil-rich countries, it means that every car should be at least a hybrid and we should use less.
Same here. It's an international market, not US-centric.
And I agree that the figure is extremely skewed. I do think the drop in gas prices had much more to do with the economic collapse that occurred at the same time.