So much lower prices on everything is a very good thing??..maybe not..

[Stuart G]

If the country goes into a severe deflation. (much lower prices for everything)........everyone will be hurt.

Why?...Looks like a good deal..cheap gas, food, housing etc...Well it is...if incomes are going up..but, incomes will be going down... sales.. will go down. that is total money coming in..why? (total receipts will not go up because increased sales will not produce more money...cause..of...lower prices.(yes lower prices, but fewer buyers..why? not enough jobs, and not enough extra money to buy....)..makes sense?...Sure..

So...guess what else will go down...profits...and that is ok..sure...well,,,maybe not...

Decreased sales, decreased profits......means no new hiring?...Yep...no expansion? Yep...no new construction?...yep?..
yep.................more and more unemployment?....yep...so it isn't pretty...suburbs, city, farm...
More poverty..worse than anyone will remember..except those who remember the 30s...and it could be even worse ...................cause one thing existed then, that don't exist now...a sense of community and caring..(and Bush may have destroyed that too...I hope not..)

[demo dutch]

1. Cheap gas is not good for the environment!!

[Stuart G]

2. correct.........people will start driving more..and give up the idea . alternative , cleaner fuels..

Already, the speed has picked up considerably on roads last month and half.......

[hendo]

6. Cheap gas is a bad thing

It pissed me off to no end when i got razed for that when I said it this past summer.

[RC]

3. This will mean shortages of everything. Think food.

Cheap gas won't do anyone much good if they don't have a job to pay for any. You will be too busy thinking about where your next meal will be coming from. Cheap basics will be almost all you will be able to get if you live in the cities. Macaroni, beans, day old bread, etc. Pets are going to disappear.
Gasoline will be the least of your worries.

[natrat]

4. isnt it low demand, falling prices,low output then incresing prices-then sick inflation

because of the trillions they keep printing

[global1]

5. They Shot Themselves In The Foot.......

trying to wipe out the middle class - left them with fewer people to buy the items that they make.

Send jobs offshore; lay people off; fire people - more people out of work - have to be carried by unemployment monies - less income tax collected - because of no income - less sales tax collected - because people only spending on the essentials - home payment/rent; food; gas to get to work to make a meager wage - less purchasing power - lay people off at the retail stores - special sales - give up margin to move the inventory purchased back when we didn't think we were in a recession because *Co kept telling us things weren't so bad - lay off of people that make the raw materials of the items we're not purchasing - high inventories of unsold product - hold back on adding to the inventory - more layoffs at that level - less sales taxes collected - how to compensate - raise prices - food pricing going up - actual quantities going down - pay more for less food - spiraling, spiraling, spiraling down, down, down - ultimately the people that thought they would be smart for doing away with the middle class is beginning to feel the pain - business shutting down - they shot themselves in the foot.

We reduce employees because of self filling gas stations; self-checking food stores; computerization. Companies now are going to employees saying - take a cut in pay - further worsening the economic crisis - just be glad you have a job.

Yet people are trampling people to get the new Wi, Blue Ray HDTV, iPhone, GPS system, toys, jewelry, etc - doesn't make sense - but - probably good that people are still out buying - but wait - after Christmas - when the bills come due - what are they going to do?

The solution - put people back to work - pay them a decent wage - make them feel good about spending money and try and reverse this spiral. Unfortunately - any economic stimulus plan putting money into peoples pockets - will either go for just the essentials or to pay debts they've already incurred - and not stimulate the economy.

We need more than an economic stimulus - we need JOBS. President-elect Obama - PUT PEOPLE BACK TO WORK. GIVE THEM JOBS. GIVE THEM THEIR SELF-RESPECT BACK. GIVE US SINGLE PAYER UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE. RAISE THE MINIMUM WAGE. GET US OFF OF FOREIGN OIL. SIT ON THE AUTO INDUSTRY TO RAISE THE CAFE STANDARDS AND DEVELOP ALTERNATIVE FUEL CARS. AND PLEASE MOVE AS FAST AS YOU COULD.

[SoCalDem]

7. and once the spiral starts, it gathers speed..

:(