via The Weekly Standard by GEOFFREY NORMAN
A barrel of crude oil was trading at around $48 at the end of last week. For a generous segment of the population, this is good news. Commuters will spend less on gas and have more to spend on, say, the things that Amazon Prime can deliver to their front doors. And, of course, Jeff Bezos will be spending less to make that delivery so good news for him, too, though he probably wouldn’t know how to spend the money.
The relatively low price of oil is a function of increased production in the U.S. This has been achieved through new finds and new methods of extraction. The drilling business is booming, and the United States is now an oil-exporting nation. This means profits and jobs and good news, in general, for the economy.
Environmentalists, however, are not happy about the low price of oil, and the increased extraction of it by a robust industry. For all the obvious reasons. More drilling, more driving, more pollution. Transportation, after all, accounts for about a third of greenhouse gas emissions, and a big part of that will be coming from the tailpipes of vehicles with internal combustion engines.
And then there is the effect of low gas prices on the choices made by American consumers of automobiles.
The complete story here > Low Gas Prices Are Good for Almost Everyone