Tag Archives: fuel prices

business news, economic news, local news

Gas prices are cheaper … not yet cheap

As I scan the main drag through Princeton, Texas — the four-lane federal highway U.S. 380 — I see evidence of something I had hoped to see.

It’s the price of gasoline receding. At virtually all the fuel dealerships along the highway, the price of regular unleaded gas is now selling from $2.93 per gallon to $2.99.

Hmm. It’s a far cry from the $4-plus we were paying this past spring and summer, yes? I know that other parts of the country were paying a good bit more than we were in Texas. Their gas prices are coming down, too.

It’s cheaper, for sure. It damn sure isn’t “cheap.” We’ve all become accustomed to a sort of new normal ever since gasoline spiked up in the 1970s in response to the Arab oil embargo. Prior to that we were paying double-digit prices to fuel our vehicles; after that, well, we haven’t seen double digits since.

Now we are going to “salute” gas prices inching below 3 bucks per gallon? I won’t go that far. However, it is a relief and I welcome it.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

economic news

Fuel costs take big bite

Well, there’s a first time for everything, I suppose. Consider, therefore, that for the first time in our more than 50 years of married life together, my wife and I are forced to amend our travel plans because — get ready for it — the cost of fuel is making extensive travel unaffordable.

I keep hearing about how the price of motor fuel nationally is averaging $5 per gallon. Then we hear from analysts who tell us there’s “no end in sight” to the skyrocketing price increases.

All I am left to do now is plead with the authorities who can control this madness to get a handle on the price of fuel.

Our sole vehicle — at the moment — is a three-quarter ton, diesel-fueled pickup. The price of diesel in Texas is selling for something a bit north of $5 per gallon. Out west it’s going for a whole more than that. We intend to travel out west sometime this year, but only if the price of motor fuel comes down.

We’re getting a new vehicle soon. It is a gasoline-powered pickup; it’s a smaller vehicle to boot. Its fuel rating is pretty good, about 22 miles per gallon. But that’s when it’s not pulling a travel trailer. Then the fuel-efficiency rating will decline.

I never thought I would have to lament how the price of fuel is affecting our retirement journey.

However … it damn sure is taking a bite out of our best-laid plans.

I am not going to blame President Biden for this cost spike. I do want to insist that the president do whatever he can to pressure whoever he needs to pressure to put an end to this madness.

My bride and I are not alone. We are among millions of Americans living on a fixed income who want to enjoy our time on this good Earth by venturing outside of our North Texas home community. We cannot afford to do much of it now.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

national news

Shut the hell up, Rep. Jordan

By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Jim Jordan is among many congressional Republicans who just piss me off. Pure and simple. The guy is a loon who needs to have a sock shoved into his pie hole.

He has managed yet again to make an ass of himself by suggesting that the rising auto fuel prices are the result of President Biden’s economic policies.

Good grief, dude! Get a fu**ing grip.

“Average gas price: June 2020: $2.21 June 2021: $3.07,” Jordan tweeted today. “President Biden’s economy!”

Then came the response from the White House press flack, Jen Psaki. “You forgot to mention that gas prices are the same now as they were in June 2018. Or that this time last year unemployment was 11.1% — today it’s 5.8%,” she said. “@POTUS agrees families shouldn’t pay more at the pump – that’s why he’s opposed to GOP proposals to raise the gas tax.”

The idiot Jordan refuses to acknowledge that supply and demand — simple economic policy — is creating this spike in fuel prices. Demand has returned as the COVID pandemic has receded. Supply of fuel remains limited because energy companies have yet to ramp up their production capacities to meet the pent-up demand.

So with that I simply want to offer a simple demand of the Ohio loudmouth/blowhard/gasbag member of Congress. Just shut the hell up.

local news

Whipsawed between emergency and opportunity

I posted an item this morning on Facebook that said the following: Gasoline selling for $1.59/gallon; diesel for $2.17/gallon in Princeton, Texas. Good — no, great! — for consumers.

Where do I began to analyze the irony of that so-called benefit? I’ll give it a try.

The sharp decline in fuel prices seemingly would be a net benefit for a nation reeling under the weight of tragic circumstances brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. I am not going to make a single bit of light over the sadness and heartache associated with the illness and the consequences it has brought.

The falling fuel prices are the result of plummeting demand. Texas has issued a shelter in place restriction, as have many other states. We don’t dare go anywhere. Nothing is open. Plus, we don’t want to put ourselves in jeopardy or possibly others as well. We aren’t burning automobile fuel.

My wife and I drive a big Dodge diesel-powered pickup; it’s our sole motor vehicle. The price of fuel is dropping, although not nearly as rapidly as gasoline prices have declined.

We are unwilling and mostly unable to take advantage of the return of relatively cheap motor fuel.

What will happen when the threat dissipates? Or when governors, mayors and county officials tell us it’s safe enough for us to start resuming our daily lives?

The demand for motor vehicle fuel will return. It will put some additional strain on the supply of the fuel that at this moment is sitting there … in tremendous abundance.

My point is that while the drop in fuel prices looks at first blush like a positive development, it isn’t really … given that the overwhelming worldwide circumstances of the moment are preventing us from taking full advantage of what has occurred.

business news, local news

Price goes up … then comes back down

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Update: I thought for a moment I had been hallucinating earlier today when I noticed the price of gasoline had jumped 20 cents per gallon during the night. But nope. I saw it.

Then I noticed a competing convenience store chain had kept its prices the same as the day before, $2.79 per gallon of unleaded gasoline. Lo and behold, the two stations I noticed the big jump had rolled the price back to $2.79 during the day, and then dropped the per-gallon price a penny more by the end of the day.

Could there have been, shall we say, a gasoline pump trial balloon sent aloft this morning?

***

A mystery of economics has been made even more mysterious as of this very morning.

While completing an errand a few minutes ago, I noticed the price of regular unleaded gasoline jumped 20 cents per gallon overnight.

It’s still under $3, but it’s now at $2.99 at one local gasoline station. It’s a local chain, so I’m betting I’ll see a similar spike at other corner gasoline stations later this morning when I trudge off to work.

The mystery is this: I keep reading stories in the media about the plummeting price of crude oil and the accompanying decline of gasoline — which is a product of aforementioned crude oil. Then I witness this upward spike in prices here in West Texas, which supposedly is one of the centers of the domestic oil production boom that I thought was helping drive the price of energy down.

What in the world am I missing here?

I get the supply-and-demand drivers that fuel the economy.

News reports keep telling us that our supply is outstripping our demand. Production is up, demand is down. Thus, prices are supposed to come down. Isn’t that how capitalism works? It’s kind of basic.

Now the price of gasoline here in Amarillo, Texas, has shot back up — by a lot!

It’ll take some time for the price to trickle back down. That’s how it works. What jumps up quickly comes down at a snail’s pace.

I’ll be waiting and watching.