December 31, 2008
So, If high gas prices meant that were being ripped off by Big Oil...
...do low gas prices mean the oil companies are doing something good? Just kidding; of course all oil companies are always horrid. Just ask a Democrat.
We're Spending $1 Billion Less a Day on Gas!:
...CNBC's Mary Thompson broke down the numbers she received from Kloza Friday: when gasoline peeked on July 11, we were spending $1.613 billion a day to fill our tanks. The combination of lower prices and lower consumption brings that down to $611.5 million today.
And, the news might get better because wholesale gasoline is currently trading around $0.80/gallon, which means that some parts of the country could see prices at the pump approaching $1 in the next few weeks.
Of course, we shouldn't ignore huge declines in what we'll all pay to heat our homes this winter. Heating oil a year ago was $2.64/gallon. Now it's $1.25, or down over 50 percent.
Maybe more important, this is down from a July peak of $4.15. And, natural gas has plummeted from $13.60 in July to $5.80 today, which means we're all getting a HUGE cut in heating costs not only from last year, but also based on what was being forecast just five months ago.
This seems worthy of some holiday cheer, although it's likely most media outlets won't care until after Inauguration Day when they'll be able to give the new president all the credit....
Actually, what's really silly about the lefty evil-oil-companies paranoia is the WE own them. Ordinary people. As Peter Drucker pointed out long ago, the majority of shares of publicly traded American companies are held by pension funds and mutual funds, which are middle class investment vehicles. (The Unseen Revolution: How Pension Fund Socialism Came to America
Most of the "progressives" who were bellyaching about Dick Cheney and oil companies are really capitalists whose 401-k's and pension funds depend on companies like Haliburton making profits. And you can bet they wouldn't like it one little bit if their slice of capitalism were socialized.
Posted by John Weidner at December 31, 2008 07:28 AMYour pension fund is in the hands of thieves. So, just sit back, enjoy yourself and pray that your thief is a little smarter than the others.
Posted by: ron at January 1, 2009 09:49 AMMeaning precisely.... what, Ron?
Posted by: Hale Adams at January 2, 2009 06:19 PMOh, and to say something a little more pertinent to the post.....
I'm willing to bet, John, that many of those "progressives" don't actually own much, if anything, in the way of stocks generally, let alone the stocks of oil companies and the like. It would stain their moral purity if they did.
Posted by: Hale Adams at January 2, 2009 06:22 PMNo individual stocks, perhaps. But I bet a lot of them hold whatever mutual funds seem likely to perform well, and they don't need to pay much attention to what stocks the fund holds. They buy "Fidelity Aggressive Growth," or some such, and who cares what the package contains?
Actually, when one considers the perverse twists possible in the human psyche (especially with leftists)...... it is not inconceivable that the same progressive might own oil company stocks, feel justified in enjoying the profits thereof, and STILL denounce the evil oil companies, and feel self-righteous in so doing!
Hale:
When I read about a nice old man under house arrest for perpetrating a 50 billion dollar investment scam or large government money laundering schemes like Freddy and Fanny, it really makes me wonder what the hell is going on in the world of "High Finance". Getting more to the subject, Bernie advised me that within 6 - 8 months, the price of gasoline will be back up to
$4.25 - $5.00 per gallon, plus a new federal tax of 1.00 to finance the new jobs for Obama's infrastructure renewal program. Oil company stocks are a safe bet. Get some...
