Lower oil prices a threat to Texas economy

its already having an effect on long range planning, I heard BP is cutting or already cut 500 jobs in the Houston area Originally Posted by RALPHEY BOY

Do you know anyone working for BP?

One can blame it on lower gasoline prices, but BP has been shit canning folks from the "employment" status for several years now ... at least since the explosion. Everyone that I know who were laid off ... returned shortly as contract labor .... WITHOUT HEALTH INSURANCE!!!! OR RETIREMENT BENEFITS!!!!! (One recently died and his only son got nothing in retirement from BP, and I'm spending part of Christmas day with two "contract" supervisors and inspectors, whose wives went back to work to get health care coverage for their respective children....and paying out the ass for that coverage.

Handy "cover' for the Pro-Obamacare Crowd .... blame on the oil companies.

Wait ... BP is one!!!!

You boys forget that lower oil prices hurt Russia and many others countries we do not see eye to eye with . Low oil prices are a big plus for this country in general. Does it hurt states that depend on oil revenue? Yes but not as much as it helps the country as a whole.

EVA, will you pull your head out of your ass before you post?

Texas is rolling in jobs and money because of the oil boom as are many states around it. Lower oil prices tend to dampen that economy BUT will it hurt it in a big enough way to really hurt it? According to Larry Kudlow probably not. Yes, some hiring may slow, some jobs may disappear but it is so much cheaper and easier to drill for oil today than it was 10 years ago. The overhead and is not so much. He had an expert who says it cost only one and half million dollars to drill a fracking oil well today and they are very certain to actually hit oil. What is that word that the Obama crowd keeps using....oh, yes "robust". Growth in Texas may slow but it will still be "robust" and more "robust" than the general US economy. Originally Posted by JD Barleycorn

LMAO I am waiting till you blame Obie for it. Why not the ones *(Saudis) who stated they won't quit flooding the market even if it reaches $20. a barrel.

Since when has increased cost of raw material EVER helped the overall economy?

Yeah, lower oil prices will hurt North Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. But that is just in the energy sector. But the energy sector is a bigger chunk of the economy in ND and WY than in Texas, so Texas shouldn't be hurt too badly.

But that analysis completely ignores the huge benefit to the overall US economy of the lower energy prices. Our transportation costs and our energy costs (gas and electricity) will be much lower. People who are barely scraping by will be able to put gas in their cars and heat their homes and will have a little more for spending on goods. And those goods should be slightly cheaper due to reduced energy prices. Marginal businesses will be more profitable.

So, overall, we benefit. The detriment to North Dakota and Texas is negligible in the greater scheme of things.

The only real downside to lower energy prices is continued reliance on fossil fuels and increased CO2 in the atmosphere.

It's affecting my planning...
Airfares are dropping. Frontier is offering $48 dollar fares to San Francisco from Bush.
Might be doing a little more traveling next year and will have a little more cash in my pocket to spend when I get there.

It's affecting my planning...
Airfares are dropping. Frontier is offering $48 dollar fares to San Francisco from Bush.
Might be doing a little more traveling next year and will have a little more cash in my pocket to spend when I get there. Originally Posted by boardman

48 dollars! Hot Damn....I'm in.

48 dollars! Hot Damn....I'm in. Originally Posted by WTF

Are you coming back?

Oil and natural gas are the source of some 4.5% of the revenue for Texas. An additional portion is collected from petro-chemical companies and employees through sales taxes, and that must also be considered. Add to that, employed petro-chemical workers are contributing to the revenue source and not draining it by collecting unemployment benefits.