Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Gasoline prices have sucked – hard – for a long time. Now it looks like they dropping steadily.
Today in Asheville, gasoline prices dropped below $3 a gallon for the first time since 210. And experts say prices could keep dropping. What’s going on? Experts say its all boils down to increased supply and decreased demand.
The lower gas prices are arriving just in time for the holiday shopping season, which is brightening the outlook for a lot of retailers and anyone watching consumer trends. Lower gas prices are also great for tourism, which is one of Western North Carolina’s biggest industries.
Asheville has seen plenty of ups and downs with gas prices. One of the biggest change-ups came in 2008.
Back then, gas prices across North Carolina spiked after Hurricane Ike. It grew to be the great Gas Crunch of Aught Eight, and it nearly brought Asheville to its knees in September ’08. People lined up at the pumps got into fights about line-jumping. Political leaders considered declaring a state of emergency. Then U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler scored a photo opp next to a gas tanker delivering a load. Athletic events and community meetings were canceled. Rumors ran wild about which stations had gasoline and which didn’t. Residents began hoarding gasoline.
There was also a lot of discussion about the pipelines that supply the mountains of Western North Carolina with gasoline. The role of jobbers who deliver the gas to local stations for sale was also scrutinized.
State Attorney General Roy Cooper investigated charges of price gouging – some stations were charging upwards of $5 a gallon for gas – and he collected thousands in civil penalties. In Asheville, motorists waited in long lines to fuel up.
What’s going on? Experts say its all boils down to increased supply and decreased demand.
Not so fast. Commodity prices tend to follow similar arcs, and respond to similar global events. For example, here’s the price of silver during 2011:
http://www.kitco.com/LFgif/ag2011.gif
Here’s the price of crude oil during the first six months of 2011:
http://www.optioninvestor.com/oin/images/commentary/mwrap/2011-05-12-21-12-53/2011-05-12-21-12-53-747.png
Here’s the moment that the price of silver dropped by 15% in one fell swoop (just like oil) and started its downward trend:
http://www.kitco.com/hist_charts/silver/24_hours/2011/ag05022011.gif
Here’s the event late Sunday night May 1st 2011 that may have burst the bubble and led to the downward trend in both gasoline and precious metal prices:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/54093.html
The price at the pump may be dropping, but the true cost of our addiction to oil continues to grow exponentially. Look at all of the wars we have fought and continue to fight in order to keep the oil flowing. Besides the billions that have been spent, the human costs are staggering. Countess civilians and soldiers have died, and thousands more maimed, etc. And, of course, there are the environmental costs, which cannot even be calculated, but are already sending the ecosystem into a downward spiral.
Time to trade my car in for an overly large SUV
The world is awash in oil as US production has zoomed.
Countries like Venezuela are dying (at an even faster rate) in this environment. In the old days, the Saudis would cut production and look the other way at cartel cheating by Venezuela and others. Not this time apparently.
Prices heading lower.
Turns out if you put the price of something in big numbers outside the places selling it, then people care about it disproportionately.
Maybe Mission should be obliged to display its prices on a big billboard for people driving down Biltmore?
And you-know-who will be along to give the credit for lower gas prices to Tim Moffitt in 3… 2… 1…
The Saudis are either helping us, or hurting us. We’ll see if the fracking bubble can survive when its already leveraged too far.
The low gas prices are nice on the wallet, but if they cause the fracking boom to come to an end then it’ll be more painful for us down the road.