Benefits of cheaper oil outweigh burdens: #tellusatoday

Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:

I like lower gas prices. It saves me money.

— Rich Hamrick

With many stocks losing so much value, combined with the wild fluctuations in the market of late, I’m not sure I’m ready to celebrate cheaper oil.

— Bill Wilson

Sure, $1,200 more in your pocket each year (the amount the average driver saves now that gas has dropped from $4 per gallon to $2 per gallon) is great, but it does nothing to reduce income inequality. Wages still don’t go up, and middle-class Americans with their retirement accounts tied to the stock market also suffer.

— Branden Makana

Americans now have more money to spend on products instead of pouring their paychecks into their gas tanks. I understand low oil prices are bad for American oil workers, but they have to be good for people in other sectors.

— Dave Valant

This is simple economics. The money that consumers are not spending on fuel is being spent elsewhere or saved. It’s still a zero-sum game; somebody wins and somebody loses.

— Ted Schmitt

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Increase the gas tax, and use it to fund the revival of our decrepit infrastructure. Take advantage of the opportunity now.

— Dan Porath

I’d go along with increasing the gas tax if there were more accountability in the government. I wonder what percentage of the new tax dollars would go to rebuilding the infrastructure?

— John Thomas

The government should be adding to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve at these prices. The $30 per barrel of oil now likely will be $60 per barrel in several years.

— Mickey Cashen

We asked our followers on Twitter whether falling oil prices are good or bad for the country. Comments from Twitter are edited for clarity and grammar:

They are bad for the top 1%. They benefit those who live paycheck to paycheck.

— @groft7

If you have investments in the market, it sucks. The past two months moved my retirement back two years.

— @SlippyField

I’ll have more money to save so I can buy a more fuel-efficient vehicle and save more. Energy companies had years to diversify.

— @JeffW188

Oil prices must rebound unless we want to see American oil companies become insolvent.

— @brookefox91

Whether they are good or bad depends on where you live and what you do.

— @tylerbox12

Falling oil prices mean the economy is tanking somewhere in the world. Caution is the word. Pay down debts and save money.

— @MercedesCharity

For more discussions, follow @USATOpinion or #tellusatoday.