Gas prices are affected by supply and demand

The price of crude oil has fallen from about $147 to less than $78 per barrel.

It’s economics.

There are people who thought the government should intervene, such as through reduced gas taxes, tapping into the strategic petroleum reserve, etc. They assumed that demand for gas would remain high as the price went up, because there’s no other way for people and products to move except by burning gas.

That’s not true. The government should not intervene.

When gas began selling above $4 a gallon, American consumers made “a psychological shift into the sense of crisis and a sense of permanence,” says Greg Priddy, oil analyst for the Eurasia Group in Washington. Instead of believing that gas prices would finally fall again, many began changing their daily habits — they started driving the smaller car in a two-car garage or consolidating shopping trips. That has meant a huge slump in Americans’ gas use. Even before the market meltdown, Americans consumed 800,000 barrels of oil a day less during the first half of this year than the same period last year. As demand fell, so did prices, and as prices have fallen, investors have begun pulling money out of the oil market, fearing a collapse, says Leila Benali, an expert on Middle East oil for the Cambridge Energy Research Associates in Paris, adding: “People are getting nervous about demand next year. There is talk of a global recession.”

Source (Time.com)

I have never thought the price of gas was high in the U.S. You should see how much it costs in other countries.

The reason why solar, wind, and other clean energy technologies are not working is not because the government isn’t supporting them enough. In fact, I think the government should hardly get involved at all. People will shift to solar/wind/etc. when it makes economic sense. No sooner. Not very much later.

Think about it. The government has no business trying to set prices. The role of government is clearly defined in the Constitution of the United States, and that Constitution is one of the primary reasons why we are the most prosperous nation in the world today.