Gasoline was only $1.79 a gallon when Bush left office

[Submariner]

Recently I've been running across teabaggers on TV saying how cheap gas was when Bush left office, and look how it increased when Obama took over.

Remember this graph if and when you hear the same thing. I assume most recall that the big oil buddies of the Bush/Cheney junta crashed the price of gas to help McCain win the election, and then shot the price right back up into the stratosphere when Obama took office.

The rethugs must think Liberals have short memories or something.

[shraby]

1. Do you have a link that this graph came from? I'd like to send it to my grandson.

[NYC_SKP]

2. Right here:

http://www.randomuseless.info/gasprice/gasprice.html

[shraby]

14. Thank you!

[CatholicEdHead]

3. Yes it was and I was paying $3.99 for gas right before that

before the bottom fell out of the economy.

[baldguy]

4. And it topped $4.40/gal a year before.

Only a fool would really believe that precipitous drop in 2008 was happenstance.

[customerserviceguy]

11. It happened to coincide with the recession

And the bubble in oil speculation finally peaked, then burst. It seems reasonable that if there ever is an economic recovery that feels genuine to a majority of Americans, we'd be paying about five bucks a gallon, maybe more.

It might be a good time for me to go car shopping. Gas prices are still relatively low, the economy is still in the tank for many people, interest rates will never be this low again, and I just might pick up a good deal on a fuel efficient car that will be premium priced when gas tops four bucks a gallon. The old bucket of bolts is ten years old, and while that's not ancient in the Pacific Northwest where I bought it used in 2005, winter conditions here have really aged it fast.

[theophilus]

13. The increases, imo, helped create the recession. I don't believe we will ever have a "recovery"

if they raise the gas prices every time we start to climb out.

[customerserviceguy]

15. The increases might well have been the pin that burst the bubble

But it was going to be punctured anyway. I do agree that fuel price increases will have a dampening effect on whatever recovery might emerge. Food prices will have that effect, too.

[MidwestTransplant]

5. Um, gas prices will always be lower in a depression.

[n2doc]

6. I remember paying $0.69 a gallon in 1999.

Wonder who was in office then?

[liberal N proud]

7. And the same companies are driving it higher now.

[mike_c]

8. I predicted that the country would go to hell in a handbasket when gas topped $0.50/gal...

...and I was right!

[Pilotguy]

9. Here's are some interesting facts to share with teabaggers...

From the WSJ - November 2011

"U.S. exports of gasoline, diesel and other oil-based fuels are soaring, putting the nation on track to be a net exporter of petroleum products in 2011 for the first time in 62 years.

A combination of booming demand from emerging markets and faltering domestic activity means the U.S. is exporting more fuel than it imports, upending the historical norm.

According to data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Tuesday, the U.S. sent abroad 753.4 million barrels of everything from gasoline to jet fuel in the first nine months of this year, while it imported 689.4 million barrels.

That the U.S. is shipping out more fuel than it brings in is significant because the nation has for decades been a voracious energy consumer. It took in huge quantities of not only crude oil from the Middle East but also refined fuels from Europe, Latin America and elsewhere to help run its factories and cars."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203441704577068670488306242.html

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/story/2011-12-31/united-states-export/52298812/1?loc=interstitialskip

[doc03]

10. I don't think Bush and Cheney crashed the gas prices to help McCain. I think the price of

gas crashed because the economy crashed.

[doc03]

12. People are worried about the price of gas and go out and buy a

SUV or full size truck. This crap has been going on for over 30 years and the American people
stil haven't caught on.

[Historic NY]

16. Here are charts from 1990-present by the week

http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pri_gnd_a_epmr_pte_dpgal_w.htm