By Omar Abdel-Baqui of The WSJ. Excerpts:
This is an important article even though they don't use the terminology correctly. See my comments in red.
"Record high gas prices are starting to take a toll on the American consumer.
Demand for gasoline in mid-May fell [when price falls, it does not cause demand to fall, which means demand shifts to the left-price is never a shift factor] to one of its lowest levels for this time of year in nearly a decade, according to government data. The drop is an early indicator that rising gas prices are prompting some Americans to change their driving habits ahead of Memorial Day weekend and what is typically the peak summer driving season." [what probably happened is that supply decreased or shifted to the left, raising the price-this gives us a lower equilibrium quantity of gas bought and sold, that is, quantity demanded fell, not demand, which is the relationship between price and quantity demanded and is never a number]
"Gasoline demand, measured on a four-week rolling average through May 20, fell to 8.8 million barrels, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration [again, this just means a lower quantity-the demand line did not necessarily move]. Excluding 2020’s steep drop in demand during pandemic lockdowns, the last time average demand for this time of year was lower was in 2013.
The skittishness comes as gas prices continue to rise. The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas in the U.S. reached $4.60 on Thursday, a 51% increase from a year ago and a new all-time high. Prices rose above $4 a gallon, on average, in all 50 states last week."
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