Below The Beltway

Thanks largely to a decline in economic activity worldwide, oil and gas prices are continuing to fall:
HOUSTON — Retail gasoline prices dipped for a 17th week since July 4, falling below $2 a gallon in a number of states and approaching $1.50 at some service stations. The price of crude fell again too, hitting a [...]

Dollar up:
Aug. 15 (Bloomberg) — The dollar headed for a fifth weekly gain against the euro, its longest winning streak in more than two years, as crude oil prices declined and economies from Germany to Japan contracted.
The U.S. currency rose to the strongest level in almost six months against the euro and a seven-month high [...]

While the run-up in gas prices earlier this summer got alot of press attention, it’s interesting that we haven’t seen that much attention paid to the fact that gas prices have been steadily falling for a month now:
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Retail gasoline prices fell for the 25th day in a row, a survey of [...]

Empirical evidence that pricing signals actually do change behavior:
As average gas prices hit a record high of $4.108 a gallon this week, the government released new data showing that drivers have cut back their use of the fuel to levels not seen in five years.
The average price of gasoline in the U.S. has been above [...]

The oil futures market is getting a lot of the blame for the rise in oil prices, and “evil” “speculators” are the politicians’ news boogeyman.
But, the truth is, it seems, quite another story:
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — An influential oil-policy group released a report Tuesday arguing that the increase in oil-market speculation is not driving up [...]