Spring Break
Gasoline, Saltines & Chanel Bags
Lily-Hayes Kaufman (OI)*,Contributing Writer
Issue date: 11/3/08 Section: Viewpoints
Get out the Hummer - Gas is cheap! As the economy spirals, oil and gas prices are falling precipitously from all-time highs. At $2.914 per gallon, and after 37 consecutive days of decline, American's haven't seen levels this low in nearly a year. So how will grad students and Americans alike respond to this breath of fresh air as gas prices fall below $3.00?
Well thank goodness gas is cheap again. The value of an investment portfolio I had hoped would shield me from the stereotypical bleak grad student standard of living is rapidly approaching zero. However, it may cost me less than $1,000 to drive home to New York from Boston this year for Thanksgiving.
Along with every other tanking market and investment, oil and gas prices are falling precipitously from all-time highs. At $2.914 per gallon, and after 37 consecutive days of decline, American's haven't seen levels this low in nearly a year.
In July, when oil flirted with an all-time high around $145 per barrel, gasoline peaked at $4.11 per gallon. Although I was working on a commodities desk that traded oil and gas derivatives, it was an article I read on my Bloomberg that put into perspective for me just how widespread the effect of the summer's record oil and gas prices on your every day consumer actually was.
"'It's like pumping Chanel bags into a boat's hull,'" the article quoted the wife of a 75-foot white-hot yacht owner who paid out $10,800 to fill his vessel's tank. "'Every time we fill up it's like two Chanel bags, minus the wallet.'"
The suspense was killer - which would it be this weekend: trip to the mall for two Chanel bags minus the wallet - the said couple only had a 75 footer after all - or fill up the tank for a weekend trip to The Vineyard? This summer, they wouldn't have their Chanel bags and fill their tank too.
But gas prices weren't so funny when it came to filling up my own tank for the drive back to Boston at the end of August. Visions of burning Chanel bags danced before my eyes as I watched the dollars fly at the pump. Well maybe in the case of my Silver Mercury Mariner it was more like second hand Coach bags.
Well thank goodness gas is cheap again. The value of an investment portfolio I had hoped would shield me from the stereotypical bleak grad student standard of living is rapidly approaching zero. However, it may cost me less than $1,000 to drive home to New York from Boston this year for Thanksgiving.
Along with every other tanking market and investment, oil and gas prices are falling precipitously from all-time highs. At $2.914 per gallon, and after 37 consecutive days of decline, American's haven't seen levels this low in nearly a year.
In July, when oil flirted with an all-time high around $145 per barrel, gasoline peaked at $4.11 per gallon. Although I was working on a commodities desk that traded oil and gas derivatives, it was an article I read on my Bloomberg that put into perspective for me just how widespread the effect of the summer's record oil and gas prices on your every day consumer actually was.
"'It's like pumping Chanel bags into a boat's hull,'" the article quoted the wife of a 75-foot white-hot yacht owner who paid out $10,800 to fill his vessel's tank. "'Every time we fill up it's like two Chanel bags, minus the wallet.'"
The suspense was killer - which would it be this weekend: trip to the mall for two Chanel bags minus the wallet - the said couple only had a 75 footer after all - or fill up the tank for a weekend trip to The Vineyard? This summer, they wouldn't have their Chanel bags and fill their tank too.
But gas prices weren't so funny when it came to filling up my own tank for the drive back to Boston at the end of August. Visions of burning Chanel bags danced before my eyes as I watched the dollars fly at the pump. Well maybe in the case of my Silver Mercury Mariner it was more like second hand Coach bags.
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