Monday, March 17, 2008

And I JUST Filled Up!

Greeting me on my Yahoo! homepage is the following headline, so I click through...
Oil plummets on economy worries

By JOHN WILEN, AP Business Writer 2 hours, 55 minutes ago

NEW YORK - Oil prices fell sharply Monday, pulling back at least temporarily from record levels as investors feared that the financial crisis that forced the sale of Bear Stearns Cos. is a sign of deep economic troubles.

[...blah, blah, blah...]

Oil's steep decline — falling $4.17 to $106.04 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange — came hours after futures rose to a new trading high of $111.80 on the Federal Reserve's surprise Sunday move to lower a key interest rate by a quarter point. In the past several months, Fed rate cuts have fueled rallies in oil prices.

When I see a headline that shouts "Oil Plummets!" I expect an actual, I don't know, decline! So, what this story actually says is that within hours of peaking at a record high it settles back to the same outrageous price it was the day before?

Gas is still 73 cents/gallon more than it was a year ago. Break the glass on the word "plummet" when we're back in that neighborhood.

5 comments:

Deb said...

I remember when gas was less than $1/gallon. My parents nearly had coronaries when it went over a dollar. What's my point? I don't know. I'm old?

Mr Furious said...

It wasn't that long ago...1999 or so?

What's...happened...since...? Oh, yeah. ExxonMobiliburton became President.

Noah said...

Since when, exactly, did $4 become a "plummet?"

"Honey! Our savings account has plummeted $4!!"

"Oh, yeah. I bought some toothpaste and a birthday card."

Since when? I think you answered that question: ExxonMobiliburton became President

Old Dominion Blue said...

Don't worry, you only woulda saved about 50 cents on the fill up anyways.

steves said...

"What's...happened...since...?"

A couple of other minor factors may have had some small influence on the price of gasoline:

-Low refinery capacity, relative to the demand.

-Oil price today-$112/bbl.
-Oil price 1970-$10/bbl.
-Oil price 1999-$20/bbl.

-OPEC has lowered production since 2005, despite an increased demand, especially from China.