Quote:
Originally Posted by Aleta
The changes that our country is making in the driving habits and driving more gas economical cars could be one reason why the gas could come down in price. It is the demand side of it that pushes it up.
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I might just be pessimistic, but I disagree. A few years ago, when gas was $2.50 a gallon and DH and I were attempting to park our little Honda among the sea of land barges at the local mall, I asked DH, "Do you think if everyone drove little 30+mpg cars like us, gas would cost so much? We concurred that it probably would.
I think it would have worked something like this: A few years ago in my home town, the water district implored customers to help conserve water and use it wisely. The residents complied and cut usage. The result was that the water district was not selling as much water, not bringing in much profit, and was not making enough revenue to maintain infrastructure, so they cranked the rates way up to compensate. I could be wrong, but I think gas would have been the same story, maybe not to the degree that we see today, but it would have climbed much higher nonetheless.
There was an article online the other day about trading in big vehicles for little ones. They pointed out that you need to take into consideration additional costs of changing to a different vehicle- such as if you trade in a $6000 truck for a $28,000 car, you've got a $22,000 difference to make up before you start seeing your savings- not including any change to your insurance or registration costs. That's a lot of gas you've got to save to make it actually worth while.