[–] Freakazoid 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
Thank god, I got my first car when gas was at $4.00 and it killed me. I want to travel more and this cheap gas is welcome.
[–] Fatcock 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
I remember when I was growing up gas always hovered between $0.85 to $0.95 a gallon. Whenever gas would briefly go over $1.00 my mother would get pissed. It stayed that way for me almost the whole way through high school (except in '98 where it dropped to ~$0.70). Into college it was only slightly above $1.00 most of the time. Then 9/11 happened and everyone knew we had seen the last of the cheap gas.
I remember paying $4.98 at some times in the past decade. 15 years ago, I would have laughed at the idea that $2.50 is cheap.
[–] Freakazoid 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
My dad always complained about getting less and less change back from a 20. I got and old jeep cherokee. My first ride ( it was cheap) and it's never filled up for less than twenty. I'm just hoping it holds out til after college. I try to not drive at all because it just eats gas.
[–] 4EnglandJames ago
If it makes you feel better, $0.90 in 1995 is the equivalent of $1.39 today, and $2.50 today would be worth $1.62 in 1995.
[–] rwbj 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
And in 20 years there's a good chance we will have gone a long ways towards moving beyond fossil fuels.
For people that haven't seen the latest in pure electronic cars check this out. That's technology that's already for sale today in a car that never requires gas. You can charge it at any regular wall outlet or for free at a variety of stations across the country. Right now the price point of those cars is outside the reach of your average consumer but it's coming down, fast. Tesla expects a mainstream viable pure electric within 3 years. On the international front China's been facing an increasing amount of internal backlash over them turning large swaths of their country in oil burning hotboxes. And even countries like Saudi Arabia have made it a goal to start transitioning to renewable energy.
It's my opinion this is a large part of the reason for the recent drive to exploit our domestic oil reserves. That black gold going to go back to just being black goo is not a question of if but a question of when. The low oil prices are the only thing slowing down research and development in things like solar and electric. Right now solar is not cost efficient (although it's also trending rapidly downward in price) but if oil prices were to rise it would instantly become not only a clean renewable source of energy but also a more economic model as well. Use it, or lose it.
[–] [deleted] ago
[–] rockrapdude ago
Don't worry, it will be a drop in the bucket, about two days worth for the US. http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=33&t=6
This is so the big players can buy up the small ones for pennies on the dollar.
[–] Fatcock 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
One thing this article doesn't mention is the role of speculators. They have been driving prices up for the past decade and now it seems the bubble has popped. Recently there have been quite a few news stories about how US oil companies have been running out of storage space. A large portion of that is from speculators that gambled on holding back oil supplies from the market to reap a huge profit later. With all the new innovation in oils exploration and extraction, these people have been forced to sell lest they be bankrupted.
[–] Empire_of_the_mind 0 points 5 points 5 points (+5|-0) ago
Energy prices are subject to geopolitical whims. To speculate on decades-long trends in energy pricing is ridiculous.
[–] NotAnUndercoverCop ago
We don't pay the price something "might" cost ten years from now for anything else, do we? So how did they manage to hack this scam into the system?
[–] Empire_of_the_mind ago
energy prices are more volatile than most, also more critical in how they impact so many other resources.
[–] biopticstream ago
True, true. But meanwhile my wallet and gas tank are happy with this prediction.