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Ben Lacy
Professor Caruso
UWRT 1103
4 November 2015
The Economic Effects of Lowered Gas Price
Almost every American is satisfied when they see gas prices are dropping. This is simply
due to the fact that they will have more money in their pockets to pay bills and spend elsewhere
when the save money. Most people in America will admit that the economy isnt where it should
be, and needs improvement. Gas prices affect nearly every person in America in the sense that
transportation is involved in the majority of what people do. Americas economy is run by
consumers, so it is very important to make sure consumers have extra money, and lowering gas
prices is the most effective solution in doing so. Lowering the price of gas is important because it
will increase consumer spending, which will lead to a financial boost in nearly every industry,
and will provide more opportunities with job creation, making the United States much better off
than before. For my genre product, I decided to create a news article that highlights this issue,
and informs common Americans that would read it.
People paying less at the pump will have them spending their extra cash elsewhere
(Folger 1). This is not just a select few that are benefitting from this either. According to
Brookings.edu, 90% of Americans drive their personally owned cars to work. If gas prices were
to be at a comfortably low price, this would mean ninety percent of Americans would have more
money than they planned, and would be likely to spend it recreationally if they have their
necessities taken care of (Khouri Parvini 1). As a result of increased consumer spending, money
spent by consumers can go towards food, retail, automotive, hospitality, and several more
industries (Ludvigson 38). Typically when companies bring in more profit, they hire more

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employees (Ludvigson 31). Solving issues with the economy and lowering the unemployment
rate is an issue America has struggled with endlessly, and lowering gas prices is a solution that
works towards these issues very progressively (Morse 44). There are often regulations set that
prevent monopolies from taking over the economy, by disallowing companies from identifying
the needs of people, and charging insanely high amounts to take advantage of the situation. Oil
companies charging high prices for gas isnt any different than those situations. For many
Americans, there arent other alternatives. Do they expect them to run twenty miles to and from
work every day? This is just one major issue that exposes the importance of low gas prices to the
economy, and the everyday American lives.
Despite what oil and energy companies may argue about low gas prices being bad, there
are much more positive effects than there are negative effects. With several other industries
benefitting from gas prices being cheaper, the oil industry suffering a slight loss in profits is
worth the economic boom happening around it. The greed of oil companies is costing every
single other industry big time. According to Senator Barbara Boxers website, the average
income for a CEO of an energy/oil company has risen 215 percent since 2002 (Ehrenreich 1).
This is proof that the oil industry is far from suffering, and government regulations to drop oil
prices wouldnt hurt at all.
I chose to create a news article for my genre product because it creates a powerful
portrayal on the topic, bringing awareness to the people who read it. The topic of lowering gas
prices to help the economy also targets a mass audience, due to the fact that almost everyone in
America has an automobile, and drives to work. I titled my article The economic benefits of
lowering gas prices with the name of the publishing company being The Economic Examiner.
In my synthesis paper, and in my news article, I discussed that lowering gas prices would lead to

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an economic boom. As gas prices drop, consumers save more money that they can spend
elsewhere, and the economy becomes much healthier and spread out, rather than the gas
companies making all the money, and CEOs hoarding it all. This leads to job creation, which
ends up creating even more consumers, and is an endless cycle of economic benefits, which is
how the domino effect is occurring in this situation. Just as several articles discuss controversy,
and potential disaster, the article look at the topic What if oil companies did what they wanted?
Within this passage it discusses the likely possibilities of what would probably happen if oil
companies were to do what they want, with no government influence, or even influence from the
common people. They would be very likely to be greedy and raise prices, which would lead to
Americans cutting down, and getting rid of this increased consumer cycle that helps the economy
so much (Folger 2). As a result of a bad economy, it then puts more stress on Americans. Study
results posted on businessnewsdaily.com showed that about half of stress related issues were a
result of financial struggles. This then branched out into the study that about half of heart attacks
occur from stress. Exposing this makes it even more of a serious issue. Not only do gas prices
affect almost every American, but this plays a huge factor on the overall health of the economy,
which for sure impacts every person in American.
In summary, it is easy to conclude that gas prices impact a very large part of the
economy. It may seem like a simple concept, but the fact that is causes a chain reaction,
benefitting several other parts of the economy is what makes it so important. There are many
issues that America faces that we dont have complete control over, and the economy suffers
because of it. However, lowering gas prices is certainly something that we do have control over,
and need to take advantage of for the sake of Americas economy. After researching and learning
that oil companies have incredibly high profits, with hundreds of millions of dollars to spare, it is

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important that action is taken to help lower prices, and balance out the economy that is struggling
because of situations like this. Lowering gas prices is one of the many answers people are
looking for to help Americas economy, and make the country better off.

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Works Cited
Ehrenreich, Barbara. "A Storm of Greed." Ebscohost.com. Progressive, Jan. 2006. Web. 15 Nov.
2015.
Folger, Jean. "How Gas Prices Affect The Economy." Investopedia. Investopedia, 16 May 2011.
Web. 01 Oct. 2015.
Khouri, Andrew, and Sarah Parvini. "Falling Gas Prices May Boost the U.S Economy."
Latimes.com. LA Times, 10 Dec. 2014. Web. 01 Oct. 2015.
Ludvigson, Sydney C. "Consumer Confidence and Consumer Spending." Pubs.aeaweb. Journal
of Economic Prespectives, Mar.-Apr. 2004. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.
Morse, Edward L. "Low and Behold: Making the Most of Cheap Oil." J. Council on Foreign
Relations, 2009. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.