For the first time in what feels like forever, the price of gasoline is less expensive than it was exactly a year ago.

While this would usually be reason for joy, it appears that the major factor behind the significant decline in the prices of oil and gasoline is the rapidly deteriorating world economy.

Today’s national average price of gas stands at $2.73 per gallon, which is three cents below where it was exactly 12 months ago.  While $2.73 for a gallon of gas certainly isn’t cheap by any stretch of the imagination, it’s certainly a heck of a lot more affordable than what we dealt with for most of this year.

Since hitting a record high of $4.12 per gallon on July 14, the price of gas has fallen by over 33%.  Over the past month alone the price of gas has fallen nearly 25% – thanks to the credit crisis and fears of a very deep and painful recession.

Currently, there are only five states reporting an average gas price above $3 per gallon, with Alaska having the highest state wide average price at $3.60 per gallon.  Conversely, there are now ten states reporting an average gas price below $2.50 per gallon, with Oklahoma having the lowest state wide average price at $2.27.

In an effort to help stem the tide of falling oil prices – which are down nearly 60% from this summer’s record highs – OPEC has announced that it will cut crude oil production by 1.5 million barrels per day.  However, because this cut was less than the expected 2 million barrel per day cut, the price of oil fell about $3 per barrel after the announcement.

This likely means gas prices will continue to fall in the near term.  While this is good news for anyone with a car – additionally, this will effectively kill inflationary pressures – the trade off is we’re having to deal with the worst economy in decades.

Unfortunately, it looks like things are going to get a lot worse – higher unemployment, further declines in stock and home prices, and sinking corporate profits – before they start to get any better.