The Pros And Cons Of Gas Prices In The United States

Gas prices in the United States are one of the most important things that affect how we as a people live. From daily transportation, all the way to peoples careers and vacations, the price of gas has been instrumentally important to American life, especially in the last 65 years or so. At first, prices were low and everyone used as much gas as needed. Steadily, prices increased and sometimes got so high people were unable to get as much as they needed to due to how expensive it was to obtain. Although there are alternatives to gasoline, it is and will remain to be the primary fuel our society uses for quite some time because of its ease of access and convenience as compared to the alternatives forms of energy.
Gasoline is an inelastic good. Inelastic goods are goods that will have the same demand regardless of the price of them. Gasoline is highly inelastic, because most people have cars that run on gas, and thus need them to get to their jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor …show more content…
OPEC, or the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is a group of 12 countries that produce oil. These groups get together and decide on the prices of crude oil (DiLallo, 2016). OPEC is struggling because now, more countries are focusing on using their own crude oil as well as finding alternatives to gasoline. This creates a problem for OPEC so they lower their prices not because they want too, but because if they don’t, they will lose the market share they have of the world’s oil and will not make nearly any money at all. OPEC struggles with losing their market share also because of the slow transition to more fuel-efficient vehicles and transportation. Some argue the demise of OPEC to be a good thing, allowing other countries to economically benefit and prosper and that it also creates healthy competition amongst the countries or companies involved which may create lower gas prices for