The gas station I use has special “membership” pricing on Sunday, so my company this morning while filling my tank was a bunch of guys driving 10 MPG pickups. I’m sure all of those camo-wearing Limbaugh listeners were silently thanking Barack Hussein Obama for the cheap gas they were putting in the 40 gallon tanks of their shiny, gas-guzzling penis extensions.
Not really, because gas prices only matter when they’re high and there’s a Democrat in office. Otherwise, they’re political dark matter.
Frankensteinbeck
I saw $2.00 a gallon here. I think the exact price was $2.07.
Baud
I recently bought a hybrid.
You’re welcome, America.
Steve from Antioch
My F350 running a 6.2 gets 12 miles per gallon, so I don’t know what the hell you are talking about.
BGinCHI
We are in South Carolina (Edisto Island) for the holidays and gas is just north of 2 bucks.
Obama bumper stickers are not as evident as in Chi. Weird.
burnspbesq
Low gas prices happening in spite of Nobama. Didn’t you get the email blast?
raven
Dude on Mornin Joe Friday said, “does Obama get the credit for the low gas prices because he sure got the blame when they were high”? Joe was actually pretty funny, “no” was it.
c u n d gulag
No, they weren’t ‘silently thanking Obama.’
Instead, they’re silently blaming him that the prices aren’t cheaper.
In the few brain cells they have in their craniums, they think that if he’d only attacked Iran, gas and oil would be almost free.
c u n d gulag
No, they weren’t ‘silently thanking Obama.’
Instead, they’re silently blaming him that the prices aren’t cheaper.
In the few brain cells they have in their craniums, they think that if he’d only attacked Iran, gas and oil would be almost free.
Baud
Soon, the oil companies will be paying us to drive.
raven
@BGinCHI: And the pimento at McConkey’s Jungle Shack!
burnspbesq
Unseasonably warm weather in parts of Europe also taking a bite out of demand. Was on a conference call with a client in Vienna on Friday; he said it was 16 degrees (61 Fahrenheit) there. That’s almost as warm as LA.
Baud
@raven:
Same rules as with the stock market.
humanoid.panda
If that’s any comfort, I think people who study this believe that gas prices have a direct effect on people’s perceptions of the economy, and with some lag, those perceptions are translated into views of the president. I.e, if these prices hold and nothing else happens, it will take 3 or 4 months, but Obama’s approval ratings should improve 3-4 points..
rlrr
@burnspbesq:
Fox “News” was telling America that falling gas prices were a bad thing just before the election…
raven
@humanoid.panda: Now that it doesn’t matter.
burnspbesq
@rlrr:
Orwell, if he were still around, would call Fox News the Ministry of Truth.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
Same as it ever was. They will go to their graves, the lot of them, cursing Obama’s name.
Let them choke on their bile; I no longer view them as being worth the effort.
burnspbesq
If this result holds, Brendan Rogers may actually be at some risk of losing his job.
Just Some Fuckhead
You’d like to think some governmental oversight entity would begin to examine how gas prices are so frequently and easily manipulated. Ha!
rlrr
@Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant):
Just like deficits only matter when a Democrat is President…
BGinCHI
@raven: Being able to get Duke’s mayo made the whole trip worth it. I love that stuff. Plus local red hots for sale.
D58826
$2.38 a gallon yesterday in Charlotte. About the only good news in an otherwise dismal week
Mike J
@burnspbesq: Not a good year for the Fenway Sports Group.
Mike J
Equalizer!
Amir Khalid
@burnspbesq:
We need a coach for defence, damn it. We should hire Sami Hyppia away from Brighton & Hove Albion. He’s always wanted to coach at Liverpool.
ETA: At least we’ve equalised, no no home-defeat humiliation for this week.
burnspbesq
And there’s your stoppage-time equalizer, from Martin Skrtel. Still, given Liverpool’s dominance of the first half, Amir will see this as two points left on the table.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
@D58826: 2.23 just over the SC line…
raven
@D58826: I’m trying to find a bus trip to the Belk Bowl!!
Amir Khalid
@burnspbesq:
I do indeed.
raven
@BGinCHI: There was a time when the Duke’s operation sold live mudbugs.
burnspbesq
And Liverpool celebrates Christmas equidistant from Europe and relegation.
srv
Wait until you see the jobs report after all those Texans and Dakotans lose their jerbs.
Libs used to want less energy dependence.
Kiwanda
Funny, deficits are like that too: as Cheney said “Reagan proved that deficits don’t matter”, and Bush made a surplus into a huge deficit, but for awhile there, there was nothing more important for Obama to do but to reduce the deficit.
Iowa Old Lady
$2.29 in Nowhereville, Iowa.
Mike Dixon
@Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant):
Oh, didncha hear? Low gas prices are a fucking catastrophe when the Democrat Party is in control of the economy:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2014/12/08/oil-prices-crash-obamas-latest-blow-to-the-american-economy/
He’s killing jobs again! Chicago-style payback to Real America (which also happen to be the oil-producing states)!
Oh wait.
http://news.yahoo.com/north-dakota-countdown-looms-5-3-billion-oil-121511201–finance.html
Amir Khalid
@Iowa Old Lady:
Roughly comparable to the current price in Malaysia.
mai naem mobile
I filled up for $1.97 yesterday because i had one of those discount grocery card point deals but costco has it for $1.99 anyway and on my gas price app the higher range price in my neighborhood is $ 2.20-2.29. Regular price is around $2.15. I think this may just run the local indy Chevron out of business.
jonas
This is going to be spun as “Obama’s War on Oil Jobs” when we start hearing about layoffs in the energy sector in North Dakota and Oklahoma.
Botsplainer
@raven:
That’s my 25th anniversary. Mrs Botsplainer already accused me of wanting to follow the score on ESPN when we go out.
Not wading into THAT thicket.
I can check when she has bathroom breaks…
Tommy
My parents are funny about gas. They have half a tank and need more. I am kind of stunned. Mom and dad talk about gas prices. Save a penny here or there. I want to yell go fill your tank up.
raven
@Botsplainer: Whew, a minefield for sure. We have to go up to the in-laws in Blacksburg xmas eve but the family gig is the 26th. . . right in the middle of the Illini Bowl game. Being 6-6 and in the Texas Bowl is no big deal but it’s funny they didn’t schedule it during the 6-6 Hokie game!
The TIm Channel
Be careful what you cheer for. This is an attack on the economic underbelly of America by the Saudi’s. The repercussions will come rolling in shortly. Also, this: https://thetimchannel.wordpress.com/2014/12/21/sony-hack/
Enjoy.
chopper
@The TIm Channel:
it’s more an attack on the economic underbelly of russia and iran.
humanoid.panda
@raven: Democrats are about twice as likely to win in 2016 with Obama at 48% approval as they are with him at 43%.
rikyrah
While I was driving this morning, I saw gas for $2.58 – in the ‘Hood.
I am paying more for a gallon of milk, than a gallon of gas.
KellyinLouisville
@BGinCHI: $1.98 here in the People’s Republuc of Louisville and you can get Dukes Mayo at all of the local Krogers here heaven in a jar.
raven
@humanoid.panda: well cheer up then
Davis X. Machina
@Amir Khalid: A “Fire Hyypia” poll is running 7-1 against Sami right this minute at North Stand Chat , the main BHA board. (Liverpool is my scond team — BHA fan here…) Most of them would pay FSG to take him off their hands.
PsiFighter37
The good news is that this should help support the broad economy here even more (outside of the energy sector, which will take it on the chin if oil prices stay at these levels for more than 6 months, in my somewhat informed opinion).
What is more troubling about the lower oil prices is that it means that the economy elsewhere – specifically Europe and emerging market economies outside of Asia – are doing horribly. Whether that slowdown of global growth outside the U.S. eventually feeds over to us is the greater concern. Lower oil prices will actually hurt Japan, because they’ve been stuck in a deflationary environment for so long that the automatic behavior of the consumer there will be to simply sock the savings away, instead of spending it.
Short-term, the optics of lower gas prices are good. But if this does persist, frankly, I’d be a lot more worried…
srv
I guess he wants to normalize there too.
Kay
I think he’ll eventually get credit if the economy stays the same or gets better.
Cable tv personalities are always like 6 months behind non-wealthy people :)
Middle and lower income people here are incredibly sensitive to gas prices. It’s huge. I used to think I could match Bush’s approval numbers to gas prices. They all have to drive everywhere. If they notice NOTHING else, they pay attention to that.
srv
Col. Fuckhead and the Government have new tools in the War Against Christmas.
Kay
I think we still have to go thru the phase where the President doesn’t get credit for the economy from the people who blamed him for the economy because those same people will switch to “it’s cyclical, and MUCH TOO big ‘n global to give credit to one person!”
That’s in the offing :)
Just Some Fuckhead
@srv: We are currently exploring drone strikes.
raven
Just saw an ad that dish is in a fight with Fox!!!
Steeplejack
Happened to wander into The Wizard of Oz on TNT a while ago. I haven’t watched it in many years, and I was surprised at how good it looks. I know it’s been buffed up and remastered, but still. I guess my memory of it is permanently fused to the bad old print on the ancient ’60s TV.
RaflW
$2.12 at a station inside the city limits of Minneapolis this weekend. This particular BP station is often lower – I wonder if its because we’re super-libs here and have to be coaxed to buy from the Gulf-destroying Macondo well exploders?
But, yeah, Obama will get 0 credit for this with most people. Though we could try what the wingers do and at least shout about it.
Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)
@Steeplejack:
Three-stripTechnicolor was a pain in the ass to shoot and develop, and it’s a pain to preserve, but it was used for 30+ years because it looks frickin’ amazing on screen.
raven
@Mnemosyne (iPad Mini): This is fun
Recalling the Imperfect Radio and TV Reception of the Past
david miller
No… thank you, Saudi Arabia.
just like… thank you, Saudi Arabia for dropping oil prices and collapsing the USSR.
… thank you, Saudi Arabia for sending money and fundamentalist nuts into Afghanistan to lure the USSR into defending their allies.
… thank you, Saudi Arabia for funding the Contras in Nicaragua.
… thank you, Saudi Arabia, for funding and supporting the Islamic State.
I have no idea why people think that using SA as a off-the-books piggy bank and oil-war proxy by the United States executive branch, to wage war on Russia via oil output, is a good idea in the long term.
… but hey… what could go wrong?
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@PsiFighter37: Gail the Actuary has a Top 10 Reasons to be worried list that is thought provoking…
Supposedly the fracking companies in ND need ~ $70/bbl to break even.
Cheers,
Scott.
VOR
@Steve from Antioch: My Prius gets 45, but I am comfortable with the size of my penis,
Roger Moore
@Mnemosyne (iPad Mini):
Yep. Typical color film processes are pretty awful; I assume that, together with cost, is part of the reason black and white movies remained commercially viable for as long as they did. One of the huge advantages of digital is that it’s much easier to get really good color out of it.
AxelFoley
@Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant):
Word up.
Corner Stone
@AxelFoley:
Word up, everybody say
When you hear the call you’ve got to get it underway
Word up, it’s the code word
No matter where you say it you know that you’ll be heard
Les Nessman
@VOR: I drive a 98 Dodge 1500, gets about 17 hwy, 12 city. It is a truck.
I never thought about my penis when I bought it, just the price-$1500.00
If I had my druthers I would drive a Volt.
Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)
@raven:
To each his/her own, I suppose. I’ve always found radio static to be incredibly irritating, almost on the level of fingernails on a chalkboard.
It’s also tricky because, for movies, there actually is an ideal form in which it existed on celluloid. It’s a little weird to be nostalgic for watching “It’s A Wonderful Life” on a static-filled TV when that’s not actually how it was meant to be seen. If that guy goes to a repertory house and sees “The Blob” on the big screen, is he upset because the picture is clear and more than 20 inches wide?
I get being irritated by the people who complain that there’s grain on the film of low-budget black-and-white movie they’re watching on DVD, and those people are dumb, but I think that writer goes a bit too far in the opposite direction.
Okay, I’m getting off his lawn now.
Mike G
Now the rednecks have a bigger budget for
Rollin’ Coal
Possibly the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of.
raven
@Mnemosyne (iPad Mini): I didn’t write it, I just thought it was fun.
Mnemosyne
@raven:
It’s just funny to see a writer who’s probably closer to my age (45) than he is to your age be such an old fogey.
ETA: Obviously, I know you didn’t write it.
Dick Move
Uhm… Wow? Regardless of how often a person comes out publicly against a variety of unfair biases, you never know how biased they may be themselves until a sliver gets under the fingernail of one of their most cherished biases.
I’m guessin’.
The Other Bob
@Steve from Antioch:
My F-150 P***s Extension gets 21 hwy, but I ain’t bragging. I did not buy it for the efficiency. Then again I drive 8 miles to work round trip, so it efficiency isn’t really a huge deal. I bought it when gas was close to $4 a gallon.
The real bummer is that a lot of companies will now have to discount their efficient cars and will not get a return on their investment. There are tons of great choices now in hybrids and other cars that top 40 mpg. If gas stays under $3, automakers will question their next $ billion investment in efficiency.
Birthmarker
Gas is running about $2.24 in north Alabama this weekend, and Duke’s is widely available…
PST
I saw $1.99 today in Toledo, Ohio. My ideas of what gasoline should cost were formed in the early 60s, at around 30 cents a gallon or a little less. This is cheaper.