Gas prices

  • Glenn
    Eden Prairie, MN
    Posts: 113
    #1262488

    I was looking at gas prices last year at this time vs this year, wondering where they may go. So I pulled this graph. We were at about 3.25/gal last year at this time. Hopefully they won’t drive it too high this year. I think the economy will keep things in check…I hope!

    Brian Hoffies
    Land of 10,000 taxes, potholes & the politically correct.
    Posts: 6843
    #767378

    The economy is on the rebound and with it will be the gas prices. Major oil saw that they can charge $4.00 per gallon before we really start to complain enough to the point where we change our driving habits. They will get there again.

    DaveB
    Inver Grove Heights MN
    Posts: 4330
    #767381

    With unemployment 4% higher and people not quite shopping as much, and the global demand slowing, we will not get nearly as high this year.

    Barring a major hurricane impacting the short term, and given the fact that I know NOTHING specifically about gas price economics, I would guess that $2.50 would be the top this summer.

    If you are worried about it, buy a few hundred gallons now at todays prices.

    kooty
    Keymaster
    1 hour 15 mins to the Pond
    Posts: 18101
    #767382

    Why do you think the economy is on the rebound? My wife’s company and mine are still planning lay offs. I know of a couple other organizations who are also working round 4 or 5 of layoffs due to lack of business. The only people I’m aware of doing well are the banks who have been so generously given my tax dollars.

    eronningen
    Rochester, MN
    Posts: 1885
    #767385

    Quote:


    Why do you think the economy is on the rebound? My wife’s company and mine are still planning lay offs. I know of a couple other organizations who are also working round 4 or 5 of layoffs due to lack of business. The only people I’m aware of doing well are the banks who have been so generously given my tax dollars.



    Its anyones guess now. Seems like we might have found the bottom. Layoffs will probably keep going some. No business wants to spend much, even during a slow recovery.

    Wade Boardman
    Grand Rapids, MN
    Posts: 4451
    #767386

    Quote:


    Why do you think the economy is on the rebound? My wife’s company and mine are still planning lay offs. I know of a couple other organizations who are also working round 4 or 5 of layoffs due to lack of business. The only people I’m aware of doing well are the banks who have been so generously given my tax dollars.


    There are niches that are booming in this economy. Our company has found a niche in the medical field that needs to be filled. We’ve been growing by leaps and bounds. There had to be some good news for somebody out there.

    Brian Hoffies
    Land of 10,000 taxes, potholes & the politically correct.
    Posts: 6843
    #767389

    Quote:


    Why do you think the economy is on the rebound? My wife’s company and mine are still planning lay offs. I know of a couple other organizations who are also working round 4 or 5 of layoffs due to lack of business. The only people I’m aware of doing well are the banks who have been so generously given my tax dollars.


    I believe it’s on the rebound because that’s easier to believe then that we haven’t hit bottom yet.

    I’m a believer that positive thoughts create positive results. Now don’t get me wrong. People who have been laid off or downsized are facing reality. Those people have lost their jobs and no amount of positive thoughts will change that.

    But, I believe the sooner people start to believe the economy is turning the sooner they will go buy that new car or truck. The sooner people believe their job is secure the sooner they will start that remodeling project at home. The sooner people start to believe the sooner things will turn.

    May sound like a pipe dream, and maybe it is. But I do know that if people have no reason to get out of bed in the morning depression will set in. Depression leads to zero productivity and dangerous situations.

    We all can watch TV and believe that the world is ending or we can believe things are on the rebound and getting better.

    It’s time we get this behind us and start building a new economy built on cash vs credit.

    Now, before you get bent out of shape and blow a blood vessel just remember this is only one mans opinion. Besides, it’s Friday.

    kooty
    Keymaster
    1 hour 15 mins to the Pond
    Posts: 18101
    #767390

    Lord only knows if half the stuff I can read on the internet is factual, but the articles I’m reading are stating we may be out of a “recession”, but the job market is 12-18 months from recovering. Not sure how our country can sustain itself another year with more and more people losing their jobs and homes.

    God bless you guys are able to buy new boats, trucks etc… However, luxury item sales have to be at an all time low. The use of those items has to be down. Think of the trickle affect the boating and camping industry alone has. Then think bigger, think automakers.

    Sorry for the doom and gloom attitude, I just don’t trust our government one bit. In my opinion, they are taking us down a path of no return.

    Brian Hoffies
    Land of 10,000 taxes, potholes & the politically correct.
    Posts: 6843
    #767396

    Well faith in our government would be a stretch I agree. Remember they were the ones who finally admitted something was wrong a full 9 months after everybody else knew.

    The key is the banks. If they in fact are starting to put some of the money back into loans then we will be on our way. House loans, new construction loans are key. People start building again and a huge segment of Minnesota will be helped. Here in Princeton we have Crystal Cabinet works. They build kitchen and bathroom cabinets. They at one time were the 3rd largest shop in the country. At one time I think they employed nearly 800 in Princeton and another 300 in St. Cloud. Today it looks like a ghost town around there. They have kept the doors open……………….for now. There whole survival is tied to housing. Therefore all those families are tied to housing. So on and so on.

    Keep the faith, things are turning. Housing will improve and it will trickle down from there. I think the worst is behind us and things will look much better by fall.

    jon_jordan
    St. Paul, Mn
    Posts: 10908
    #767411

    Quote:


    There are niches that are booming in this economy.


    There certainly are. Guns and ammo are flying off the shelf!

    -J.

    eyejacker
    Hudson, Wisconsin
    Posts: 1890
    #767415

    Quote:


    Quote:


    There are niches that are booming in this economy.


    There certainly are. Guns and ammo are flying off the shelf!

    -J.


    Yep, they are doing a bang-up business!

    mark-bruzek
    Two Harbors, MN
    Posts: 3839
    #767424

    This is a pic exactly a year and a week earlier on the way to rainy. If you look in the background fuel was $3.24 in Deer River.

    vikefanmn77
    Northfield,MN
    Posts: 1493
    #767466

    The economy may very well be on the way back. I read today that local home sales were up 21% so far. Thats gotta be good right? Ive seen the Dow finally start climbing in the last 3 weeks. Another good sign.

    The economy really started to take a bad turn in 2006. I sure hope it didnt have anything to do with the elections that year…

    a1a
    Posts: 471
    #767490

    My sentiments mirror Kooty’s…anyone who thinks the economy is on the rebound has fallen victim to the Media Spin Doctors. Hell, wait until inflation hits here in a year or two, which it will, and tell me the economy has gotten better. That is if you can afford the electricity to power your internet.

    We haven’t seen the worst of it, not by a long shot.

    vikefanmn77
    Northfield,MN
    Posts: 1493
    #767520

    Just for the record… I am smart enough to make up my own mind and not buy into the liberal media hype

    gary_wellman
    South Metro
    Posts: 6057
    #767533

    Major recessions, such as we are in don’t end over night, or in a year.

    Maybe the Dow went up, maybe gas prices are low, maybe home sales went up somewhere-somehow, according to some type of survey.

    However,

    When unemployment is banging 10%, and a total of 25% of the working class is “under-employed”, meaning that they are working a job that they are more qualified for, then the ecomony is in the tank.

    It has happened before and it will happen again. We had several years of massive spending amongst the population, to the point where it got out of control, now the pendulum is swinging the other way.

    Recessions happened in the 70s, the 50s, the 30s, even the late 1800s. We always climbed out of them.

    What concerns me is that the method the administraion today is trying to fix it. It is just the opposite of all other successful fixes in the past.

    The biggest thing to remember is that to “make money” you have to have a finished good to sell. Such as minerals or manufacturing. We ain’t drilling or splitting atoms, crop/livestock prices are starting to slip again, and manufacturing is at an all time low. So our country and it’s people are not generating money.

    If our government would drill 100 billion barrels of oil @ $10/barrel profit, we would be sitting pretty good today. But instead, we have a trillion dollar annual deficit that increased 25% this year alone already.

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