Experts said Trump can take some credit for the increased supply of gas that has driven prices lower, but that fuel economics is a hugely complex subject, impacted by many variables.
It took just a few hours into the new year for President Donald Trump to do what he has done repeatedly through his first two years in office — claim credit for positive economic news.
"Do you think it’s just luck that gas prices are so low, and falling? Low gas prices are like another Tax Cut!" Trump exclaimed on Twitter.
It took critics a few more hours to do what they have often done during the first two years of Trump’s tenure — assert that the president was oversimplifying, at best.
Trump's claim of positive pocketbook news for Americans appeared to be offered, at least in part, as an antidote to a sour 2018 on Wall Street, where stocks posted their worst performance in a decade.
The outlook was much better for consumers at the fuel pump, where gas dipped to less than $2 in some locations and to less than $2.25 in thousands of other spots, energy analysts said in November. Not long after, President Trump took to Twitter to thank Saudi Arabia for keeping oil prices low. "Oil prices getting lower," he wrote. "Great! Like a big Tax Cut for America and the World. Enjoy!" Later that same day, Thanksgiving eve, he quipped that he had driven gas prices so low that "more people are driving and I have caused traffic jams throughout our Great Nation." Adding: "Sorry everyone!"
The discussion about the benefits of lower gas prices also leaves unmentioned a collateral impact: Cheaper gas increases consumption and automobile emissions, adding to Earth-warming greenhouse gases, said Borenstein, the business professor, NBCNews reports.
"Lower gas prices surely make people happy," said Borenstein. "But they also lead to more investment in low fuel economy cars and more driving. And that means even less progress on fighting climate change, which we know is largely man made."
