Remember back at the height of the great recession, when the government let it rain money - in the form of the $300 government checks that were mailed out to Americans? Well that stimulus program absolutely dulls in comparison to the amount of money Americans are saving with gas prices down between $1 dollar and $1.50 per gallon.
There are people literally saving a hundred dollars a month (or more) on gasoline each month right now - and in some cases even more than that! I just read a story yesterday morning (which is already outdated because oil fell another $1.50 a barrel again today) which said that Americans were receiving the benefit of $285,000,000 (285 million dollars) a day! The number they gave was between $70 and $100 per family per month - and in California where people drive twice as far as the national average each week, the number was closer to double that!
How does that stack up? Basically it's a raise - but it's better than a raise, because you don't pay income tax on it! (unlike that government check we got, which if memory serves me correctly, we had to pay taxes on the following April).
Read about the price of oil ahead from CNBC: http://www.cnbc.com/id/102189040#.
It's also better than handing out a government check, because when the government prints out free money - an increase in inflation is a real danger. On the other hand, when gas prices are spiraling downward, the net results are lower prices, because transportation costs drop dramatically on everything that is shipped - utility costs drop, food harvesting costs drop, material costs for plastics drop, construction material costs drop - in theory, even the expensive ink for our printers should drop.
As I said, this really is an unprecedented economic stimulus that will have economists studying the effects for years to come.
Written by Joe Lizura. Join Joe on Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/joelizura
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