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posted by Blackmoore on Saturday November 08 2014, @05:59AM   Printer-friendly
from the too-depressed-to-care dept.

Drivers across America are rejoicing at falling gasoline prices as pumps across the country dip below $3 a gallon. But according to Sharon E. Burke while it's nice to get the break at the gas pump and the economic benefits of an energy boom at home, the national security price of oil remains high. Burke says that the United States should be doing everything it can to diversify global energy suppliers, and that ultimately the only way to solve our long term energy problem is to make a sustained, long-term investment in alternatives to petroleum. October saw a 52 percent jump in Jeep SUV sales and a 36 percent rise in Ram trucks while some hybrid and electric vehicle sales fell at the same time. “This is like putting a Big Mac in front of people who need to diet or watch their cholesterol,” says Anthony Perl. “Some people might have the willpower to stick with their program, and some people will wait until their first heart attack before committing to a diet—but if we do that at a planetary scale it will be pretty traumatic.”

Nicholas St. Fleur writes at The Atlantic that low oil prices may also undermine the message from the UN’s climate panel. The price drop comes after the UN declared earlier this week that fossil fuel emissions must drop to zero by the end of the century in order to keep global temperatures in check. “I don’t think people will see the urgency of dealing with fossil fuels today,” says Perl. Falling oil prices may also deter businesses from switching to energy-saving technology, as a 2006 study in the Energy Journal suggested. Saving several pennies at the pump, Perl says, may tempt Americans away from actions that can lead to a sustainable, post-carbon future.

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 08 2014, @07:03AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 08 2014, @07:03AM (#113990)

    I was surprised six years ago that the gas prices were low leading up to the 2008 Presidential elections. I said to myself: It's too good to be true, the prices will go back up to pre-election levels. They eventually did--employing the old 'boiled frog' trick to gradually increase the prices back to what they were. Discussed this with another persion and he held the same view I did and told me the simple reasion for such a gas price drop at such a time: simply an incentive to encourage people to go out and drive to the polls to vote. Once that is done, the prices go right back up.

    Puppet-on-a-string stuff.

    Here is an opportunity to make a few extra bucks (if safe, legal, and feasable to do so) by buying LOTS of gasoline when the prices are low like this, 'sit on it', then sell it at the old, pre-election price levels once the markets 'force' the prices back up to the former levels.

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 08 2014, @07:59AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 08 2014, @07:59AM (#113995)

    Blah-blah-blah conspiracy theories.

    The problem with that bullshit is that you are saying that the 2014 elections were so important to deserve price manipulations but the 2012 elections were not and in fact went almost exactly the opposite direction, [gasbuddy.com] peaking a little over a week before final voting on Nov 6th and then dropping to a 12-month low mid-december.

    Ignorance & Confirmation bias, nothing more.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 08 2014, @11:23PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 08 2014, @11:23PM (#114149)

      Our gas prices have been manipulated since the early 1970s.

      It is called OPEC. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPEC [wikipedia.org]

      The problem they are running into is 2 nations (key ones at that) are now basically under the control of the US gov and the oil companies. A 3rd one is starting to think this OPEC thing is hurting them and they are actually talking to the US again.

      When you see it hit 65 you will see the opec cartel really ramping up the rhetoric and trying to drive up prices again. Thing is they no longer control 80% of the market.

      The 100-120 a barrel prices we have been seeing are purely because or market manipulation and poor federal policy nearly doubling the money supply. Now that the Russians, Chinese and Americans have their own supplies under control a glut is starting to appear. As much as the dingleberrys in DC want to take credit they cant. It is a market distortion being removed so the true price of gas is reappearing. I expect it to settle between 1.50 and 2.20. Which is near the historical average (given inflation).

      Given that we should step on the gas as it were for more energy sources. That pollute less. It is just simply good business sense. Pollution is waste. Waste costs money.