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Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (111232)	3/16/2012 11:16:54 AM
From: tejek	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 149317

Interesting. Maybe. However, there are some really troubling signs that your opinion may not be correct, though. Think really deep fundamentals. One place you ALWAYS find a recovery is in gasoline demand. When an economy is recovering, truck and car miles driven expand, which causes more demand for gasoline. However, it has been declining since 2009. http://205.254.135.7/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=C170000001&f=M Why? Well, it's not because hybrids and electric cars have sold like hotcakes and it's not because gasoline mileage has increased appreciably in the last 2 years. No. The root cause of the decline in gasoline demand is a slowing economy. This is where you don't root down deep enough. First of all, the ratio of fuel economy cars to high fuel cars has changed..........the big three have been reporting for over a year now that they are selling a higher percentage of fuel economy cars than they have in the past [and making money on those cars finally]. That has had an impact on consumption despite your disbelief. Secondly, headlines like the one below have been appearing all over the country: Transit ridership in King County roars back as economy strengthens Riders took Metro buses in near record numbers in 2011 http://www.kingcounty.gov/transportation/kcdot/NewsCenter/NewsReleases/2012/February/nr022412_Ridership.aspx?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+delicious%2FAgch+%28Delicious%2FKingCounty%2Fmetro%29 And here is what is even more ominous. If demand for gasoline is declining, and thus, economic activity is declining, why on earth have gasoline prices increased during the same period of declining demand? http://205.254.135.7/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=EMM_EPMR_PTE_NUS_DPG&f=W Good question..........we discussed this issue last week. Its believed the rise is due to rampant speculation playing off events like Iranian war ships entering the Mediterranean. The hedge funds are at it again. The conclusions are inescapable. Declining gasoline = declining economic activity. Increasing prices, despite declining demand = dollar devaluation relative to oil, which is priced in dollars. Inscapable? Only in your mind. You want failure because it plays into your ideology. We could go back into recession.......the economy is still that fragile. But with each passing day we don't, that possibility is reduced albeit slightly.