http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/02/25/10507857-gingrich-im-the-250-gas-president-obama-is-the-10-gas-guy

“If you would like to have a national American energy policy, never again bow to a Saudi king and pay $2.50 a gallon, Newt Gingrich will be your candidate,” he said to cheers. “If you want $10 a gallon gasoline, an anti-energy secretary, and in weakness requiring us to depend on foreigners for our energy, Barack Obama should be your candidate.”

Others were more ‘conservative’ in their predictions:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/07/mike-lee-gas-prices_n_1327224.html

“When President Obama took office, gas prices were about $1.85 per gallon,” said Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah). “Now that they’re up to about $3.75 per gallon, we can see a steady increase. Over this 38-month period of time of his presidency so far, gasoline prices have risen on … average of about 5 cents per gallon per month.”

“This is staggering when you think about the fact that if he’s reelected,” Lee said, “it’s a total of an additional 58 months. With that increase, gas prices will be up at around $6.60 per gallon.”

Of course they are assuming GOP voters are stupid enough to believe the president sets the price of gas… from the looks of things these days, that is a safe assumption.

We’re so used to gas prices only ratcheting higher because of insatiable demand that it’s a little hard to comprehend when the market works properly the other direction: Abundance plus a drop in demand is fueling (sorry) low prices.

From an article in The Atlantic The Decline of the Driver’s License discussing why fewer people are getting driver’s licenses:

In other studies, Sivak and Schoettle suggest that driving in general may have already peaked in the United States. The total distance driven per person in the U.S. was at its highest in 2004, and by 2013, it had decreased by 9 percent. In part, this may be because people are traveling less in general: Comparing 2004 to 2014, people spent less time traveling to places to eat and drink, to buy goods and services, to work, school, and to leisure activities. The ease of Amazon, the rise of teleworking, and the endless entertainment provided by the Internet may be leading people to stay home more, but it’s hard to say—there’s no research available that explains these trends. A New York Times article from 2013 mentions unemployment as a reason for young people buying fewer cars, but as Jordan Weissman noted in The Atlantic that same year, downward trends in driving started before the recession.

The article focuses a lot on how few MillenialsSnake People have driver’s licenses. That’s a clear demographic signal that gas consumption will drop long term. Plus, more are people living in cities where there’s alternate transportation. Highest rate of driver’s licensing? Us old folks clinging to a symbol of independence and mobility.

Other technological trends are only going to reinforce decreasing demand for oil. Consider how Uber reduces the demand to own cars, and broadly increases energy efficiency by more efficient usage of infrastructure. And in the long run, it gets worse: Who do you think is the real market for self-driving cars? Why would you own one, when Uber can send one over when you need transportation? It makes no sense to me to own a self-driving car, because the added expense for automation takes away the one reason for owning a car: the satisfaction of driving. Owning a self-driving car is about as exciting as owning a dishwasher (unless it fails at high speed, but that’s the wrong kind of exciting). The future is fleets of clean robotic cars providing transportation on demand.

I don’t smell a rat, Rob, I smell cleaner air.

http://425business.com/special-report/complex-effect-fuel-prices/

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/22/falling-gas-prices-not-doing-much-for-the-economy.html

One Arco station in my area- $1.99

An ironic consequence of being in the same boat as mcfly, a stay-at-home geek, my car has gas in its tank that cost me around $4/gallon the last time I filled up. I’m losing money on that investment. Should I hold it until the price goes back up?

Loving the low prices, and don’t trust anybody that says its bad for the economy. It may be bad for a sector of the economy, but low gas prices help a lot more parts of the economy than it hurts.

SDG…what do you drive?
I have a Toyota Rav 4

But I think it’s running about a buck fifty, buck fifty-five, thereabouts.