www.csua.org/u/m53 -> news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/fallingoilpricespresentmixedblessingforconsumers
falling price of oil is prompting sighs of relief in many quarters. Cheaper gasoline and heating oil will make it easier for hard-pressed consumers to make ends meet. And the more than $30 a barrel that oil has dropped in recent weeks has been like a stimulus package for a battered economy.
It could give companies and governments pause before making the investments in new energy sources, mass transit and efficient technologies needed to lessen the USA's dependence on foreign oil. It might also prompt some consumers to return to their old wasteful habits.
Presidential contenders John McCain and Barack Obama have embraced worthwhile ideas, but their tendency to trade panders on gas-tax holidays and windfall profits taxes is a worrying signal that neither would change the fundamental stalemate. This leaves high oil prices as the most effective means of altering behavior. Last week, the Transportation and Energy departments reported just how influential they can be.
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge if it were to be opened to drilling. High gas prices have prompted automakers to shift to more efficient cars and new technologies.
Chevy Volt, a plug-in hybrid expected in about 2010 that will run entirely on electricity for drivers going less than 40 miles per day. Wind and solar energy are becoming more competitive as the result of advancing technology and the fact that prices have risen for coal and other traditional sources of electricity.
These changes are much more dramatic than anything resulting from proposals borne of political expedience. To be sure, high prices cause hardships, and the worst could come this winter from painfully high home heating oil prices; Congress and the president should look hard at increasing funds to help the poorest through a tough winter. But if oil prices continue falling, much of the recent momentum could be slowed, to the delight of those who profit from feeding the nation's addiction.
B5ey is9tBmXmKgRGntlL8B2YD/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1219252545/L=ZaJ2DkWTVvr83xETQI4Vvwv WRTfow0isNSEACW5m/B=rDW8BNj8els-/J=1219245345712371/A=5406810/R=0/* Add headlines to your personalized My Yahoo!
|
http://csua.com/feed/