We were told by the "economists" that these falling oil prices would be a boon for the economy and would unleash all this pent up consumer spending. Yet, last Dec. I read an article how that hasn't happened. The " economist" couldn't understand why.
The Oil Boom jobs were the one bright spot in a " recovery" that has created part time, low paying jobs. When those went away, were did all those oil workers go? Unemployment or one of those waiter and bartender jobs that paid no where near what they were making on the oil fields.
IOW, the "economists" who predicted all this massive consumer spending with falling gas and oil prices forgot the average consumer has been tapped out since the housing bubble popped
Everyone uses oil and gas so it does make sense that when prices are down, everyone benefits.
Except when one considers oil and gas are resources in the ground. A resource is like having a bank account in the ground to draw on when needed. A country with no resources to speak of(like Japan) cannot create that wealth when its 'bank account' is empty.
The ability to extract millions of barrels of oil per day from one's bank account really adds to the vitality of an economy. Add to that the activity (drilling, facilities, leasing, pipelines) surrounding getting more oil and gas out also adds many jobs to the economy.
Losing a trillion dollars of capital spent to tap that bank account is an awful lot of jobs.
