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Posted: 06 Jan 2015 08:00 AM PST  Natural gas flares from a flare-head at the Orvis State well on the Evanson family farm in McKenzie County, North Dakota, east of Arnegard and west of Watford City. (PHOTO: Tim Evanson, Flickr Creative Commons)That’s every “Mom, I don’t feel good,” “Dad, I got invited to a birthday party,” “I’d love to meet to talk about [community project initiative brainstorming thing],” “Screw it, let’s get pizza.” Daily commute, Scouts, the works. Every one: $12 a shot. So, yeah. Gas prices are down and we like that. A trip to town now costs half as much: $6 if you gas up in Hibbing, $7 if you gas up in Grand Rapids. That adds up. And it’s adding up for people all over the country, not just woodsfolk like us. The cost of gas, however, like any commodity, cannot be simply explained or predicted in a modern global economy constantly unrolling new technology and efficiencies. Most folks have an understanding of the concept of supply and demand, however, and that’s enough to speculate. And how! For instance, domestic oil and gas production in the United States has risen dramatically in recent years. Fracking for shale oil in many states, including prodigious oil drilling in western North Dakota, has created remarkable new supplies. Meantime, the U.S. is importing less foreign oil. Also good news, right? So there’s more American oil (America!) and less foreign oil (YEAH!). This ultimately dour piece from Michael Snyder of Global Research in Canada starts with this remarkable observation: It would be difficult to overstate the importance of the shale oil boom to the U.S. economy. Thanks to this boom, the United States has become the largest oil producer on the entire planet.Snyder goes on to show that Mideast oil producers are essentially entering into “gas wars” with the U.S. to help drive down prices. Since the method of extracting oil and gas from American wells is much more expensive, they hope to shut of those wells with low prices. Indeed, the boomtowns of Western North Dakota now see the boom fading. Leader there are preparing for a long economic plateau with occasional downturns, something we here on the Iron Range know quite well. That’s a compelling international economic tale of intrigue, all right, but what if it’s only one cause of the lower prices?There’s another argument that says that the reason for the low prices is as much attributable to lower demand as it is to higher supply. We’re using less gas. That all feeds into the notion that what we’re seeing here is not about gas at all, but about a global economy preparing to pop another bubble. If that’s the case, there’s no reason to get too giddy about gas prices. Indeed, speaking from my middle class, single-income experience, filling my tank for less than $25 does not making me feel rich or more secure. Who in America today has a job that is truly stable? A new owner, a new election, a new technology could upend your world at any time. So it goes. What should you do in this time of low gas prices? Replenish your savings. Pay down your debts, if you have any. Continue to imagine a world where cheap gas is a thing of the past. My wife Christina has some good ideas at her Northern Cheapskate blog, if you’re interested. America, collectively, seems to lack patience to commit to a long term economic and public sector strategy. As long as that remains true we will bounce up and down, always feeling that some better time existed in the past. That’s a false memory. The truth is that we have the resources and technology now to make a great world. Or, perhaps, had such opportunities … if we go on like this. Written by Aaron Brown for Minnesota Brown © 2014 | The intrigue, impact & warning of lower gas prices |