These are the good old days

Posted at 6:51 PM on January 11, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Economy

What can we conclude from two unrelated-but-related stories out today?

Reports the Associated Press:

Hybrid sales plunged 43 percent in December and 50 percent in November, according to the auto Web site Edmunds.com, surpassing the industry's overall sales decline of 36 percent in December and 37 percent the month before.

Toyota watched sales of the Prius, the top-selling hybrid in the U.S., tumble 45 percent in December, while sales of Nissan Motor Co.'s Altima hybrid fell a whopping 70 percent.

Meanwhile, you've probably noticed that gasoline prices are on the way up again, thanks to the violence in the Middle East::

Crude oil prices increased by 30 percent in the last seven days, according to information posted by the New York Times, causing the wholesale price of gasoline to increase by 40 percent since Dec. 24.

"A lot of people are talking about dollar-a-gallon gasoline, when the wholesale market seems to be pointing to $2 a gallon," said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS).

All of this on a day when Ford unveiled its all-electric plans.

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Comments (2)

What we can conclude is that consumers are short-sighted and self-interested.

On the other hand, more people -- including myself -- would be inclined to buy a hybrid if the price point wasn't so much higher than it is for a non-hybrid. And if the economy weren't so crappy.

Posted by Bob | January 12, 2009 11:51 AM

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Can somebody explain to me why food costs have been rising -even when gasoine prices dropped? I am serious, I would like an explanation.

I would also like to know what war has to do with oil costs that are controlled by the big money poeples in america. Hasn't anyone figured out that it has nothing to do with war in the Middle East and everything to do with big money peops getting better golf clubs? (I am talking about greed, if you couldn't read between the lines)

Posted by monkey see | January 12, 2009 12:46 PM

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