As Summer winds down, US gas prices and inflation overall are being held in check

With July's inflation figures coming due this week and election season starting to heat up, it might be a good time to remind ourselves about where gas prices stand today, compared to where they've been in the last 2 Summers.

As AAA reminds us, national gas prices are much less than they were in 2022, and a notable amount less than they were this time last year. And a big reason why is a combination of record US oil production combined with lower usage of gasoline.

According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas demand fell from 9.25 million b/d to 8.96 last week. Meanwhile, total domestic gasoline stocks rose from 223.8 to 225.1 million barrels. Gasoline production increased last week, averaging 10.0 million barrels per day. Crude oil production hit an all-time high of 13.4 million barrels per day. Lower gasoline demand, rising supply, and stable oil costs may lead to sliding pump prices.

Today’s national average for a gallon of gas is $3.45, five cents less than a month ago and 37 cents less than a year ago.

That was what it looked like on Thursday. AAA says that national gas prices have dropped by another penny since then, while in 2023, prices were bumping up by 2 cents. This means we are now down 40 cents from this time last year, a decline of more than 10%, which likely means the CPI reading in September (which comes right before that month's Fed meeting) will be a tame one.

Which makes it all the more ridiculous to try to see Republicans like Eric Hovde try to make "high inflation" something that's a major problem in 2024, and tries to blame the spending of Tammy Baldwin and other DC Dems for higher costs. It's just not true, and a big reason why is because of bills that Senator Baldwin and Dems pushed which encouraged alternative uses of energy and reductions in gasoline consumption.

But when you're Republicans, and you really don't have any solutions on the ecconomy, you gotta try the "baseless whining" and hope the low-info voters fall for it, I suppose.