Archive for June, 2009
June 18th, 2009
Just back from vacation in New York, where gas prices are even higher. The good news is that the gap between Rockford and the national average has dropped 10 cents in the past week. The bad news is that oil is still above $70 a barrel, with little hope that it’ll fall below that.
Here are the prices from this morning (courtesy of AAA’s fuelgaugereport.com):
Gasoline: Rockford dropped almost a cent to $2.84 a gallon today and more than five cents in the past week. We’re second in the state and 47th of the nation’s 280 metro areas, so at least we’re not quite so far up there. Chicago remains ahead of us at $2.90. The Illinois average remained at $2.83 a gallon, down two cents in the past week. The national average rose almost a cent to $2.69 a gallon, up five cents in the past week. Illinois has the sixth-highest gas prices in the nation, including the District of Columbia
Diesel: Rockford rose slightly to $2.66 a gallon, an eight-cent increase in the past week. We have the third-highest diesel prices in the state. The state average rose a cent to $2.67, a five-cent increase in the past week. The national average rose a cent to $2.61, a seven-cent increase in the past week. Illinois is tied with the 13th-highest diesel prices in the country, including the District of Columbia
June 18th, 2009
Two more day trips have been sold out at Chicago Rockford International Airport - Niagara Falls and Mackinac Island. More trips could be announced soon.
So with the success of the day trip program last year and this year, I’m interested - who are taking these flights? Have you gone on more than one? If so, what have you done there? If not, what do you plan to do? And where would you like to see RFD fly next for a day trip or two-day trip?
June 18th, 2009
(I wrote this Friday night from the Milwaukee airport terminal, but the wifi conked out before I posted. I opted not to pay for the onboard wifi on AirTran, and when I got to my vacation destination I decided to focus on overeating and buying too many books and CDs than posting. Now that I’m back in the office, here’s what I wrote then):
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Greetings from the Milwaukee airport, where I’m sitting in the midst of a nearly two-hour delay waiting for my flight to NYC. Seeme like the whole northeast is screwed up. Glad I hustled to get here.
You may recall I scheduled this trip to take advantage of RFD’s new flights to Newark. That was before AirAzul became JetAmerica became AWOL. Luckily, my wife and I had enough AirTran credits to get one leg of our trip free. It just meant that nstead of leaving work at 5 pm and heading down to RFD, I had to leave a couple of hours earlier. And pay for parking.
That said, I love MKE. It’s probably my favorite airport (BWI is the other contender), with a nice mix of convenience, good fares and destinations I want to get to. It’s also a pretty nice airport, with good concessions. My wife and I had the Wisconsin cheese panini sandwich at Mitchell’s Cafe - above average non-chain airport food - and I tried a decent Cream City Pale Ale from Lakefront Brewery. I followed it with a good coffee from Milwaukee’s own Alterra, which replaced a Starbucks kiosk. Nice to have local flavors at an airport (Is this a trend? Are they becoming like ballparks in that regard?)
So even though I get to the city late, and didn’t get my promised “hassle-free” trip through RFD, it’s vacation and I’m not going to argue. Be back Wednesday night, and don’t expect any fuel price updates or other ramblings in the interim.
But I’ll leave you with a couple questions:
1. What’s your favorite airport to fly out of and why?
2. What’s the best airport food you’ve had?
June 12th, 2009
Clinkenbeard, a rapid manufacturing and prototyping firm that serves the aerospace industry, is blogging and Twittering from the Paris Air Show next week. It’s one of four area companies who will be at the show, along with local and state economic development officials, touting this region as an aerospace cluster.
This is the world’s largest gathering of aviation-related manufactuers and other companies, but of course it’s a tough time in the industry. As the N.Y. Times reports, there will be a record 2,000 exhibitors from 48 countries, but no major plane debuts.
The world’s airlines had a net loss of $10.4 billion in 2008 and are expected to lose an additional $9 billion in 2009. Global air traffic is falling at rates faster than those seen in 2001: The International Air Transport Association expects passenger and cargo volumes to drop by 8 percent and 17 percent, respectively, this year.
The global financial crisis, which turned from a normal economic slowdown into an all-out panic after Lehman Brothers failed in September, has devastated the industry in a variety of ways. It choked off many airlines’ access to credit. The world’s biggest jet buyer is on the auction block, a consequence of the bailout last year of its parent, American International Group. And corporate jets, once de riguer for the world’s captains of industry and finance, have been ditched — at least for now — in a backlash against one of the most visible symbols of capitalist excess.
“The industry is not built to take this kind of stuff,” said Nick Cunningham, an aerospace analyst at Evolution Securities in London. With few airline customers in any shape to buy new planes and many considering delaying or canceling existing orders, he said, “it is inevitably going to have a serious impact on manufacturers and suppliers.”
But, looking longer-term, there will be demand again for planes. Developing nations in southern and southeastern Asia and the Middle East will need airplanes, and airlines will have to replace fleets eventually. Now’s as good a time as any for Rockford to keep trying to get its foot in the door - these jobs are among the best we can get.
June 12th, 2009
Prices keep slipping slowly. Yep, they often fall slower than they rise - but that’s because retailers tend to lose money when prices go up and make money when they go down. It’s hard for them to keep up with spikes in wholesale prices - if they jump too high, consumers balk. So often times they go up at a slower pace than their costs, then hold prices up to make their profit. (Last year, gas prices never jumped nearly as much as oil, for example). Would you prefer it the other way - sharper spikes up, followed by sharp spikes down?
Here are the prices from this morning (courtesy of AAA’s fuelgaugereport.com):
Gasoline: Rockford dropped another cent to $2.88 a gallon today. We’re second in the state and tied at 31st of the nation’s 280 metro areas. Chicago remains ahead of us at $2.92. The Illinois average dropped a cent to $2.84 a gallon. The national average rose a cent to $2.64 a gallon. Illinois has the fifth-highest gas prices in the nation, including the District of Columbia
Diesel: Rockford rose three cents to $2.61 a gallon. We have the third-highest diesel prices in the state. The state average rose a cent to $2.63. The national average rose a cent to $2.55. Illinois is tied with the ninth-highest diesel prices in the country, including the District of Columbia
June 11th, 2009
Gasoline prices continue to trickle downward in Rockford, and we’re now 29th in the nation.
The New York Times had an interesting story about how rising gas prices could slow the economic recovery (and for those of you who think I make this stuff, it also cites the Midwestern refinery problems and the increase in investment activity as keys):
Prices remain well below those of last summer, when the national average for regular gasoline soared above $4, but economists say the recent gains are a growing economic problem and may presage a rise in the overall inflation rate.
“This hits everyone,” said Robert J. Shiller, an economist at Yale. “It has the potential to affect your confidence.” He said that the recent rise in gasoline prices could effectively offset the new $400 to $800 payroll tax cut most employees are receiving this year as part of the Obama administration’s effort to stimulate the economy.
Consumers last summer were pulling $1.5 billion a day from their wallets to fuel their vehicles. By January, as oil prices collapsed, they were spending only $600 million a day. But now they are back to daily spending of around $1 billion, Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service, said.
Here’s a scary thought. What if China, India and the rest of the developing world - shielded by government subsidies on energy prices -starts booming again, sending energy price spiking, while we still claw out of a recession? Yikes
Here are the prices from this morning (courtesy of AAA’s fuelgaugereport.com):
Gasoline: Rockford dropped two cents to $2.89 a gallon today. We’re second in the state and 29th of the nation’s 280 metro areas. Chicago remains ahead of us at $2.93. The Illinois average dropped a cent to $2.85 a gallon. The national average rose slightly but remains around $2.63 a gallon. Illinois has the fifth-highest gas prices in the nation, including the District of Columbia
Diesel: Rockford dropped a cent to $2.58 a gallon. We have the third-highest diesel prices in the state. The state average rose a cent to $2.62. The national average rose a cent to $2.54. Illinois has the 10th-highest diesel prices in the country, including the District of Columbia
June 10th, 2009
Gasoline prices are down a few more cents around Rockford, and we’re “down” to 23rd in the nation.
Oil’s recent push upward is sending gas prices with it. But AAA’s analyst doesn’t think that’ll last. It’s next year we have to worry about :
However, most analysts still agree market fundamentals generally do not support dramatically higher prices. Demand remains low and near-record supplies are still available to meet any minor growth in oil and gasoline needs. In fact, so much oil is available some traders have taken to putting excess supply on tankers for storage. The global and domestic economies, despite occasional glimmers of a turnaround, remain mired in recessionary patterns. In the US, the unemployment rate hit 9.4 percent in May, a 25-year high which further reinforces the belief of many investors that the economy has not created sufficient demand to justify the higher prices.
The recent climb in oil prices, absent sound increases in demand, has many investors thinking that something of an “oil bubble” exists in the market. However, when exactly the market corrects itself and to what degree are both unknown.
Most investors expect oil prices to rise as the economy slowly recovers later this year and into 2010. OPEC and others have suggested that oil prices will remain in the $65-$75 per barrel range for most of 2009. When the economy does begin picking up strength some investors are concerned that the oil industry may find difficulty in meeting stronger demand because their current slowed pace of operation. The result would likely be an oil and gasoline price spike.
Here are the prices from this morning (courtesy of AAA’s fuelgaugereport.com):
Gasoline: Rockford dropped a cent to $2.92 a gallon today. We’re second in the state and 23rd of the nation’s 280 metro areas - much of California has passed up. Chicago remains ahead of us at $2.93. The Illinois average stayed at $2.86 a gallon. The national average rose a cent to $2.63 a gallon. Illinois has the fourth-highest gas prices in the nation, including the District of Columbia
Diesel: Rockford remained at $2.59 a gallon. We have the third-highest diesel prices in the state. The state average rose almost a cent to $2.61. The national average rose a cent to $2.53. Illinois has the 10th-highest diesel prices in the country, including the District of Columbia
June 9th, 2009
Any drop in prices around Rockford was offset by increases elsewhere in the region, making our metro average in gasoline prices increase a little. The big gap between Chicago wholesale gasoline and the rest of the country is dropping, so once distributors pass that on to retailers, you’ll see some relief. But meanwhile, oil prices settled today above $70 a barrel for the first time this year, so it could end up being a case of the rest of the country catching up to us more than us falling back to them.
Here are the prices from this morning (courtesy of AAA’s fuelgaugereport.com):
Gasoline: Rockford rose a cent to $2.93 a gallon today. We’re second in the state and 13th of the nation’s 280 metro areas - definitely the highest I’ve seen us. Chicago remains ahead of us at $2.94. The Illinois average drop a cent to $2.86 a gallon. The national average remained at $2.62 a gallon. Illinois has the fourth-highest gas prices in the nation, including the District of Columbia
Diesel: Rockford rose more than a cent to $2.59 a gallon. We have the second-highest diesel prices in the state. The state average dropped a cent to $2.60. The national average stayed at $2.52. Illinois has the 10th-highest diesel prices in the country, including the District of Columbia
June 8th, 2009
First off, great discussion on the comments section of my weekend story on gas prices. We have some smart readers!
We didn’t go over $3 a gallon this weekend, and it appears prices around Rockford have dropped a few cents today, according to illinoisgasprices.com and Road Ranger’s Web site. But we’ll see if it continues … or if the rest of the country catches up to us.
Here are the prices from before today’s changes (courtesy of AAA’s fuelgaugereport.com):
Gasoline: Rockford rose more than a cent to $2.92 a gallon today, and nine cents over the weekend. That’s a 21-cent hike in the past week and 70-cent hike in the past month.We’re second in the state and 17th of the nation’s 280 metro areas. Chicago is ahead of us, as is much of Michigan. In fact, Michigan as a state has the highest prices in the country, and five of the top eight states are in the Midwest. Those refineries can’t get back online soon enough.
The Illinois average rose half a cent to $2.87 a gallon, up five cents over the weekend. $2.82 a gallon. That’s a 17-cent hike in the past week and 52-cent hike in the past month. The national average rose half a cent to $2.62 a gallon, up three cents over the weekend. That’s a 12-cent hike in the past week and a 41-cent hike in the past month. Illinois has the fourth-highest gas prices in the nation, including the District of Columbia
Diesel: Rockford rose almost four cents to $2.58 a gallon, up eight cents over the weekend. That’s an 18-cent hike in the past week and 36-cent hike in the past month. We have the third-highest diesel prices in the state. The state average rose two cents to $2.61, up five cents over the weekend. That’s a 15-cent hike in the past week and 30-cent hike in the past month. The national average rose a cent to $2.52, up four cents over the weekend. That’s a 14-cent hike in the past week and 24-cent hike in the past month. Illinois has the ninth-highest diesel prices in the country, including the District of Columbia
June 8th, 2009
That’s the multimillion-dollar question, and according to a new survey, local residents are split on the answer.
Asked about increases to the sales tax, property tax, income tax, gas tax or vehicle registration fee, almost 36 percent said “none of the above”, which isn’t a surprise. What is a surprise is that sales tax was the most popular, while a gas tax was the last popular.
It’s pretty clear that commuter rail in Rockford needs some sort of funding option besides fares to keep going. Mass transit without government subsidy doesn’t generally work because fares would be too high to get enough users. But other forms of transportation are government-subsidized - how many airports and highways are paid by taxes? Why should mass transit be any different?
In my mind, a gas tax would seem to make a lot of sense - you’d be paying a tax to fund something that could help you pay less of said tax. Using gas taxes to fund alternative transportation projects could also help level off gas prices in general - it’s both a disincentive to drive as much and an incentive to use another mode, thus reducing demand for gasoline. Despite the conspiracy theorists out there, supply and demand are still the key driver in gas prices.
But maybe I’m missing something. Why are folks more in favor of a sales tax and against a gas tax hike? What do you think is the best funding option. I’ll even include a very non-scientific poll, but I’m particularly interested in the discussion.
How should we fund commuter rail from Rockford to Chicago?
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