Lew: 'Great success story' that U.S. is producing so much oil
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102259863
Speaking at the "Opportunities for Tomorrow" conference treasury secretary Jack Lew said lower oil prices are "an unquestioned positive for the US economy." He stated that the lower oil prices have helped boost our economy which hasn't been doing so well recently. He compared the drop in oil prices to a cut in taxes. He also spoke about the spending battle that is going on in Washington. The congressional Republicans are wanting to come up with a solution that allows the government to stay open and keep spending money as an opportunity to repeal part of the Dodd-Frank banking reforms. He thinks that the president and congress is going to have to come up with a trade-off. He spoke on several other issues as well such as tax reform. He said "there's no question that fixing our broken tax code is in the public interest. Another topic he talked about was employment and wages. He basically talked about the issues that we need to fix in our economy in the short run.
The drop in oil prices is definitely a good thing and it's nice to have a beneficial factor actually have a direct effect on consumers. Oftentimes we hear about good things happening in the markets and they will obviously affect everyday people in some way but it is often indirect and not as personal as having cheap gas prices at the fuel pump. I think this could help the economy in multiple ways as the cheaper gas prices could have a positive psychological effect on consumers and give them confidence and positive expectations of the economy.
ReplyDeleteI would say that the drop in oil prices is both a good and a bad. It is good because because it is cheaper for everyone to go about day to day life and thus they have more money to consume other goods which makes consumer confidence higher and helps the economy progress. However, this shock to oil prices has been very negative to the stock market as of recently and I wouldn't doubt that many people are feeling a negative "wealth effect" and consuming less.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the drop in oil prices is similar to a tax cut. I am excited to see the boost in our economy. Everyone in the United States is feeling the effect of the falling gas prices.
ReplyDeleteI am led to believe that the drop in oil prices should actually produce a positive "wealth effect" because people are spending less money at the pump.
ReplyDeleteBecause oil is a product that almost everyone uses, this drop in oil prices will most likely affect the rest of economy as well, driving prices down universally. This will make people feel wealthier, which in the end will boost the economy. So overall, this decrease in price is good for the economy.
ReplyDeleteA decrease in oil prices has been most fruitful for consumers around the world. So essentially it does for the time being reflect a positive outlook of the economy since Oil is a very large driving force in terms of the global economy.
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