March 23, 2020
TAX WHAT YOU DON'T WANT:
Gas prices could soon drop to 99 cents a gallon in parts of the Midwest (Silvia Ascarelli, 3/23/20, MarketWatch)
Even as many Americans are increasingly seeing gas prices at the pump under $2 a gallon, the drop could soon steepen. That's particularly true in the Great Lakes region, where prices could soon be 99 cents a gallon at hundreds of gas stations.Here's how Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, figures that: The Chicago spot price, the reference point for prices in surrounding states, has plummeted to 34 cents a gallon. It's a nickel to a dime higher in other regions and 52 cents on the West Coast. Add on gas taxes, he says, and you're getting close to where retail prices could soon be.
Besides all the usual good reasons to punish gas consumption, we have the added one of discouraging mobility in a pandemic.
Posted by Orrin Judd at March 23, 2020 5:45 PM