Gas Prices

Four months ago, I was paying the most for a tank of gas I had ever paid. In fact, I couldn't fill my tank when it got close to empty by using my debit card. There's a $49 limit, you see, and it cost more than that to fill my tank.

Today, I did something I haven't done since SeaGal and I were dating, or perhaps at the very beginning of our marriage: I filled the tank to our car for less than $20! Now, it is a different car, smaller tank, etc., so there's some falseness to my perception of just how cheap gas has gotten, but I'm still elated. It would have been around $24 to fill the tank if we still had the old car. Pretty cheap compared to what we had been paying.

Isn't it just a bit odd that this dramatic decrease in gasoline prices coincides with the end of our oil-baron's rule (Oh, sorry! I meant the end of George W. Bush's presidency)? Yes, I voted for him the second time. I've changed a lot in the last four years. I'm a registered Republican who votes like a Democrat. It is probably time to remove myself from the Republican Party.

So, when Emperor Bush was elected the first time, I was a missionary. I felt the impact of the beginning of his presidency, even though I was so far out of the loop on the news I didn't even know he was the president at the time. I was serving a mission in Long Island, NY, so I didn't read the news at all. The price of gasoline doubled. On the meager stipend we were given as missionaries for our sustenance and transportation, the doubled gas price was a concern. Looking back, I believe I understand a bit better what happened at the gas pump in the winter of 2001.

Bush's cronies no longer had people watching them, and the price suddenly increased dramatically. Turns out that this worked just fine, the American public kept purchasing gasoline. The oil companies' coffers quickly filled with more money than ever before. It fluctuated back down below $2.00 again by the next winter. Once Bush's reelection was sure, the price shot up, and continued to do so for a long while, just now returning to what I find to be a reasonable price.

Well, now that's over! Hooray! At least, I hope. Perhaps my poor understanding of economics doesn't really shed any light on this issue. But then again...

At any rate, here's hoping that my poor understanding has a foot to stand on, and gas prices stay lower for the next 4-8 years.