Well, at least you have the choice of getting the VW Scirocco TDI. Cheep gas cost! All we got in the states are SUVs and the Prius. So bland and unexciting.
And then there is the fact we are the world's number one producer of crude nowadays. Not good for those in the biz. And the states that rely on tax revenues from them. Lower prices good. Crash prices nah ah.
If you think the VeeDub is exciting, even compared to our blandmobiles, you need to get out more. Oh right social distancing and all.
Let's talk real numbers here because I see this thrown out all the time and it's really an unsupported assertion. How many people do you guess are employed in the oil and gas extraction industry? If not numbers, what percent of the U.S. workforce? It would have to be something like 15-20% for that assertion to have any validity, right? It's actually fewer than 160,000 jobs (https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES1021100001?amp%3bdata_tool=XGtable&output_view=data&include_graphs=true) out of a total employed workforce of over 157 million in the U.S. That's .1% of the U.S. workforce, and yes that decimal place is in the right spot, one tenth of one percent of the U.S. workforce! Those poor poor folks losing their jobs in oil and gas extraction are a miniscule drop in the bucket of our job losses even if every single one of them lost their jobs. And the low price of oil is responsible for massive savings in virtually every other segment of the economy from transportation to food to goods. So sorry but screw the oil and gas extraction folks, it's absurd to say we should be dragging down huge swaths of our economy with higher energy prices to support that tiny tiny corner of the job market.
I understand you quoted him not me, but we're both making similar points I wasn't even counting ANY jobs in that industry. In fact let's say every single one of them KEEPS there job. That is still not relevant to the larger point. Again it isn't about the linear relation that low oil = bad or low oil = automatic job losses. It has to do with deflation, which is going to be a real risk moving forward depending on how things play out. Also, I understand deflation in and of itself isn't inherently bad. But when you have a consumer based economy, largely based upon debt expansion along with all the steps the FED has taken and will further take, deflation will be extremely painful in the short to mid-term.
Your point is well taken and worth thinking about. I don't know that low oil prices will necessarily lead to deflation but they are certainly a deflationary pressure. That's a very different thing then the pervasive mistaken idea that the oil and gas extraction industry makes up a significant portion of the jobs in our country, which was all I was trying to point out.
I think it is a regional thing...I live in Oklahoma and can tell you that our economy will suffer due to energy being one of our biggest industries. It is what it is though everyone who gets in the patch is warned countless times to save that money but most go and buy a new house and $40k diesel pickup truck to be like the big shot company man only to have to turn around and sell for payoff when crude shits the bed. I was in the oilfield most of my adult life and have several friends and family members that still are and currently laid off. It hurts to see them struggle whether they could have planned ahead better or not.