Big Oil has always been a popular whipping post for many of the economic ills that have affected this country over the years. But what has happened over the last one year has not been their fault, sure, they made most of the easy money that was available, but then who didn’t? True, the oil companies made huge profits when they could, but this was the American way and while we grumbled at the prices of gas, that was about all we did.

 

Today, we have the lowest oil prices we have seen for years. And they look like they are going to stay that way for some time. There’s nothing the oil companies can do about it. Put up the prices even by one cent and the demand will drop in a way that will offset any gains they could have made from the increase.

 

In a way, low oil prices are not good for us. The reason the prices are low is because of a world wide recession, the demand has fallen to level far below the supply. Producers around the world have had to cut back on production to try and keep oil prices at some reasonable level. I guess you could say the current prices of gas are reasonable.

 

But is this low price helping us? Sure, it means that less money is flowing into the gas tank and out the exhaust. And in today’s conditions any savings is welcome. But the savings are not enough to ease the pressure on the average American family who are faced with lowered incomes, lack of job security and a fear of what the future will bring. A saving of even $100 a month on gas expenses will not help in a major way towards paying off a mortgage or averting bankruptcy.  In New York, bankruptcy attorneys in Suffolk County and Nassau County are reporting a noticeable rise in clients requesting financial hardship assistance.

 

This entry was posted on Monday, March 30th, 2009 at 10:13 am and is filed under Economy & Politics, Financial Market, General Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.