One of the benefits of The Great Recession has been a respite from high gas prices. Unfortunately, I think this break will be over very soon and that record high gasoline prices are just around the corner.
Back in July of 2008, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline hit a record high of $4.12 per gallon. Within six months, the bottom had fallen out of the economy and the average price of gasoline had dropped to $1.60 per gallon.
Thanks to drastic coordinated measures by the world’s central banks and governments, a total economic collapse was avoided, an economic rebound started to take hold, and gasoline prices climbed back to the $2.60 range.
While avoiding a total “end of the world as we know it” scenario was certainly something that had to be done, the money printing measures may have set us up to face much higher gasoline prices in the near-term future.
Below are the three main reasons why I believe not only will we break the record high prices set back in July 2008, but we can expect to start paying $5 or more for gasoline.