Dropping fuel prices good and bad

Next week, OPEC will be meeting about the price of oil: down from $147 a barrel last July to $44 today. Meantime, the price of gasoline in the US just might go to a dollar a gallon. That’s good news for consumers, but trouble for global warming and international stability.

The Automobile Association of America says gasoline prices have dropped in the US for the eighty-second day in a row, to an average of $1.70 a gallon.

Worldwide, the price of oil is dropping so fast that dollar-a-gallon gasoline is possible sometime next year. That sounds like good news, but it’s the product of a global recession, which the World Bank is now calling the worst since the Great Depression. Would Americans jump back into gas-guzzling SUV’s? What about energy independence and alternative fuels? Should gasoline taxes be increased to combat global warming and promote international stability?

Guests:
– Vincent Lauerman: President, Geopolitics Central
– Robert Samuelson: Contributing Editor, "Newsweek" and the "Washington Post"
– John White: Executive Director, Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technology
– Toby Jones: Fellow in the Oil Energy and Middle East Program, Princeton University
– David Kreutzer: Senior Policy Analyst, Heritage Foundation

Hosted by award-winning journalist Warren Olney, "To the Point" presents informative and thought-provoking discussion of major news stories — front-page issues that attract a savvy and serious news audience.

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