AAA: Crude oil reaches six-week high
Prices at the pump surpassed the record annual average price established in 2011 ($3.51 gal) this week and have done so in record time.
In 2008, the year that saw the all-time high price for regular self-service gasoline ($4.11 gal) the $3.50 per gallon mark wasn’t topped until April 21. Last year, gasoline prices didn’t surpass $3.50 per gallon until March 8. This year, gasoline topped $3.50 per gallon on Saturday, Feb. 11. Continue reading “AAA: Crude oil reaches six-week high” »
Webb introduces bill to strengthen adult ed, workforce training
Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) on Thursday introduced the Adult Education and Economic Growth Act of 2012, which will reform and increase investment in job training, adult education and other programs needed to build a 21st century workforce. Sens. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) are original co-sponsors of the legislation.
According to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, 80-90 million U.S. adults today—about half of the adult workforce—do not have the basic education and communications skills required to obtain jobs that pay a family-sustaining wage or to enter and succeed in college. However, federal funding for adult education has declined in real terms since 2002, and the nation’s primary federal resource for adult education, job training and employment services—the Workforce Investment Act—has not been reauthorized or updated for over ten years. Continue reading “Webb introduces bill to strengthen adult ed, workforce training” »
AAA: Demand down, crude oil prices down, but prices continue upward tick
The cost of gas continued to rise to unseasonably high levels this week, despite decreases in the price of crude oil.
Reports show extremely weak gasoline demand, however refineries are responding to this decrease in demand by cutting back on production, resulting in some upward movement in prices at the pump.
Gas prices climbed to the highest price in more than four months this week, reaching $3.50 Friday, up 3 cents in the past week, up 13 cents in the past month and up 38 cents since this time last year. Yet, gas prices remain 61 cents below the all-time record high of $4.11 set in July 2008. Continue reading “AAA: Demand down, crude oil prices down, but prices continue upward tick” »
AAA: Gas prices holding steady
Gas prices for February have picked up right where they left off last month. In January, crude oil traded at record-high levels for the beginning of the year, translating to the highest gas prices ever for the month.
Gas prices averaged $3.37 per gallon nationally for the month of January, 27-cents higher per gallon than January 2011. The national average for regular grade gasoline climbed 8 this week to $3.47 per gallon Friday.
Prices are 18 cents above month ago prices and 35 cents above year ago prices, yet remain 64 cents below the all-time record high of $4.11 set three and a half years ago. Continue reading “AAA: Gas prices holding steady” »
AAA: Gas prices hold steady
Despite holding at historic highs for the month of January, gas prices have stabilized over the past few weeks, yet some wonder if this is just the calm before the storm for gas prices during the first half of the year.
The national average for regular grade gasoline inched up a penny this week to $3.39 per gallon Friday. Prices are 15 cents above month ago prices and 29 cents above year ago prices, yet remain 72 cents below the all-time record high of $4.11 set in July 2008. Continue reading “AAA: Gas prices hold steady” »
AAA: Gas prices stabilizing, still high
Three weeks into the new year gas prices stabilized somewhat, yet remain at historic highs for the month of January.
Despite U.S. demand for gasoline hovering at a multi-year low, high crude oil prices and reports of impending refinery shutdowns have fueled a 10-cent increase in the national gas price average since January 1. The national average for regular grade gasoline dropped a penny this week to $3.38 per gallon Friday. Prices are 17 cents above month ago prices and 26 cents above year ago prices, yet remain 73 cents below the all-time record high of $4.11 set three and a half years ago. Continue reading “AAA: Gas prices stabilizing, still high” »
AAA: Gas prices remain at historic highs for January
Gas prices remain at historic highs for early January, up by double-digits in many part of the country since the beginning of the year. Contributing to the increase was the repeal of the ethanol tax credit, causing gas prices to increase nearly 4.5 cents per gallon.
The national average for regular grade rose 4 cents this week (11 cents since January 1) to $3.39 per gallon Friday. Prices are 13 cents above month ago prices and 29 cents above year ago prices, yet remain 72 cents below the all-time record high of $4.11 set three and a half years ago. Continue reading “AAA: Gas prices remain at historic highs for January” »
AAA: Gas prices highest ever to start a new year
Average U.S. gasoline prices began 2012 just under $3.28 gal, the highest number ever to mark the beginning of a year and the fifth straight weekly increase in price.
Last year’s $3.07 per gallon high is now relegated to second place. The U.S. average price for regular self-service gasoline was $3.51 in 2011, the highest annual number of all time, and more than twice the price average seen in the first four years of the century. The national average for regular grade rose 8 cents this week to $3.35 per gallon Friday. Prices are 6 cents below month ago prices and 27 cents above year ago prices, yet remain 76 cents below the all-time record high of $4.11 set in July 2008. Continue reading “AAA: Gas prices highest ever to start a new year” »
AAA: Gas prices in 2011 highest ever
Motorists across the nation and in Virginia will have paid more, on average, for a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in 2011 than ever before. With just three days left in the year, the national average price for gas in 2011 is close to $3.52 per gallon ,with Virginia’s average through today at a record high $3.41.
“As analysts look at everything from economic indicators and global developments to the most popular movies and photos of the year, motorists simply look at how they will continue to put gas in their cars in 2012,” said Martha Mitchell Meade, Manager of Public and Government Affairs for AAA Mid-Atlantic. “The average family in Virginia is predicted to have spent $4,544 on gas in 2011 as compared to $3,713 in 2010, an increase of $841 in just one year.”
While gas prices for the year are high, they have been dropping fairly steadily as the year draws to a close. Gas prices today in Virginia are 18 cents lower than they were on Nov. 1. Nationally prices are now 21 cents lower than the beginning of November.
Analyst Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service, predicts that current lower prices will continue through the year’s end and into January when they will likely hit their lowest when demand is typically low. Kloza, however, predicts that prices could go up a full $1.00 from the lows in January as we head towards spring.
AAA: Gas prices highest ever at Christmas
The cost of gas is the lump of coal in motorists’ Christmas stockings this year, and although pump prices have declined of recent, consumers will still end up paying the highest ever price for gas at Christmas in history. The national average for regular grade dropped 4 cents from last week to $3.25 per gallon Friday. Prices are 15 cents below month ago prices. Just before Christmas 2010, the average price was $2.98 (27 cents lower) and $2.59 (66 cents lower) per gallon two Christmases ago in 2009.
Crude oil plunged to its lowest level in six weeks this week as industrial production declined for the first time since April in the U.S., the world’s largest oil-consuming country, and the strength of the U.S. dollar against the euro as the euro region’s ability to manage its debt troubles mounted. A strong U.S. dollar will suppress crude oil prices. Prices are down 5.3 percent since December 9, heading for a second weekly decline and the biggest since September 23. Crude is 3.1 percent higher this year after climbing 15 percent in 2010. Some analysts cautioned there could be further losses in store for crude, which would help to push gas prices further down. Crude oil closed down for the second straight week at $93.53 Friday. Continue reading “AAA: Gas prices highest ever at Christmas” »
Susan Shaer: Inside the Pentagon’s Rockwell family holiday
My images of Thanksgiving and the holiday season are like a Norman Rockwell tableau: happy, smiling faces giving thanks and taking time to list the big things: health, family, security.
During the holidays I feel especially thankful and proud to live in a country where few have to walk miles to get water, or pray for a midwife to come deliver a live baby. I am thankful for those things we too often forget – police and firefighters who protect us, with no graft “tipping” charge.
We are so fortunate. Some say we are the richest country in the world and in the history of the planet. On the other hand, the occupy movement is drawing attention to the growing divide between rich and poor, and I despair that “he who dies with the most toys wins” will replace any other high-value legacy. Lawmakers are now struggling to find ways achieve deficit reduction – leaving many of us wondering what will remain after Congress has picked the budget bird?
All of this economic insecurity is making many of us feel downright pinched and miserly. In listening to the latest GOP presidential debates, it’s clear that in this fiscal environment, candidates are ready to pull back from foreign assistance, cut back on programs that enhance civil society, and even cut into the basic social safety net by waging epic battles over programs like Social Security and Medicare. At the same time, there is fearful resistance, both on the campaign trail and in Washington, to cutting back on Pentagon spending. This sort of ungracious Scrooge-like behavior might be a natural response in our current fiscal climate, but it is ineffective and unsustainable. In the longer term, this approach will make us less secure.
When it comes to foreign humanitarian assistance, we should think about the strategic benefit that comes from being known as the country delivering vaccines, developing opportunities for girls to go to school, providing communities access to clean water. At this point, the U.S. budget allocates less than 1 percent of its federal spending to poverty-focused assistance for other countries. Even cutting this aid completely, as some have suggested, will have hardly an iota of effect on deficit savings — though it would have an effect on our U.S. reputation and the good will of other countries – not to mention, lives.
We also need to cut back on excessive Pentagon spending and focus on strengthening our own economy. It’s really simple arithmetic. Well over half of the spending that Congress annually appropriates goes to the Pentagon. We cannot get sufficient deficit reduction by merely cutting the arts, National Public radio and foreign aid – it’s just not a big enough portion of our spending. Dismantling Social Security, Medicare and other programs that sustain the American way of life so that we remain armed to the hilt in the name of defending that American way of life is what my Mom called “bass akwards.”
There are places to cut in the Pentagon’s budget that will help us create a sustainable national defense in the 21st century. One example is our Cold War-size nuclear arsenal. There are other examples of wasteful contracting and procurement practices that military experts and even Republican candidates for president say need to be scrutinized.
As we careen into the end-of-the-year round of holidays, we in the United States should recognize our abundance. We are so blessed. We should take opportunities to look after each other and to look outside ourselves. Let us wish for others what we have for ourselves, and in that spirit build a more secure nation and world.
Susan Shaer is executive director of Women’s Action for New Directions.
Joseph Meyer: Small-business owners and Main Street–don’t forget about us
Posted by afp on December 14, 2011 · Leave a Comment
Today small-business owners and entrepreneurs are the job-creation engine of America, employing more than half of America’s workers and creating more than 60% of all new jobs over the past 15 years. If small businesses are so important to our local and national economies, then why do so many small businesses and Main Street owners face uncertainty in today’s economic climate? The reality is that most small businesses lackease of access to capital and as a result are unable to grow their businesses and hire new workers. Small businesses are facing uncertainty that will linger into 2012. Continue reading “Joseph Meyer: Small-business owners and Main Street–don’t forget about us” »
Filed under Blogs · Tagged with 2012 election, 2012 president, congress, Economy, small business, u.s. politics