Many families across America are feeling a little budgetary relief just in time for Christmas, as the price of gasoline has been steadily dropping for about the last 5-1/2 months, with the exception of a spike during the week of Thanksgiving, which has lead some watchdogs to express opinions of price gouging during the busiest travel weekend of the year. IN May,2011 gasoline hit a high of $3.94 a gallon. (national average according to AAA’s daily fuel gauge report.) Currently the national average for the price of regular gasoline across America is $3.27. A month ago gasoline was averaging #3.48 as compared to $2.97 a year ago as we can see in the following AAA graph:
As gasoline prices are linked directly to the price of crude, we can expect gasoline prices to rise steadily in the coming weeks. Crude is currently hovering around $100 dollars a barrel and the price for the next year is projected to run $115 dollars a barrel, according to oil-price.net. Will we ever see the price of gasoline drop under $2.00 a gallon again? Only if we start to extract the massive deposits we have right here in the good ole USA, and thereby keeping us from having to buy more oil from OPEC and other countries. For now, the lower gasoline prices will help struggling families stretch those holiday dollars just a little further, which is a welcome respite during the current economic recession.
