I won't get into that war either, however, if an explanation is that simple its like getting something for free, you are missing something, so here are a few things folks are missing....
1> When the economy tanked in November of 2008 the Opec nations had to reduce prices because not only was gasoline being bought at historic lows but all products that depended on crude (like plastics, energy prodcution non-gas, synthetics, etc..) grinded to a production halt. Without "artificiallly" lowering the price of oil to where it should not have been, these products would not have been able to recover and would have hurt Opec nations future sales.
2> Stocks began an historic rise from 2008 to the present. If you watch the high and low dips with the market, oil for once did not have an inverse relationship with stocks...For that matter if you look at the macro-economics all types of investment commodities (oil, gold, silver), stocks (public and private), as well as personal savings and 401K deposit rates have all grown at rates never seen before. This is an anomally that will not continue...Gold will stabalize, oil prices will retreat to the mid to high 80's, people will begin to consume more and save less.....
3> If you take a closer look at that chart...You see the mean price of gas, during these turbulent times is around 2.80....Although I would like it to be lower, with inflation over the years that is probabaly about where it should be....If the price is around mid 80 per barrell, then gas will fall back into that 2.80 range...
4> Take a longer look than 60 months....More like 10 or 20 years....You will notice similar dips and spikes like 2008 however long term the chart looks very much the same, if you take out the complete abberations like the 6 months ending 2008. It has pretty much risen with inflation...Take the outliers out (the top and botton 10 to 20% spikes) and the charts pretty much rise with inflation, GDP, the Dow, and personal income over the last 10 to 20 years...
5> We need our politicians (republicans and democrats) to do a better job with our "allies"....How many of you know that our largest source of oil imports is actually from Canada ? Mexico is number 2 ? Britian is 9 ? Brazil and Venezuala are 10 and 4 ? The truth is out of the top 10 countries we import oil from 3, maybe 4 could be called middle eastern....I say its not repubs and dems but the system as a whole...We support the countries day in and day out and yet they (our non middle eastern allies) are the ones making us pay more at the pump...
6> I know I am forgetting a ton of factors, but I think we all need to understand there is more than 1, 2, or 3 sides to any story...This is a perfect example...Too many factors policitcal, environmental, social, economic, etc...play into this equation to "blame" any one area...In the end, it just sucks for all of us.....
Finally, please forgive any notion that I may know anything about this at all...I am not that smart, don't catch enough fish, and I still looking for a beer today...I will go back to my "normal" self now....
Good luck if any of you get out this weekend !