About those gas prices ...

If today's somewhat lower gasoline prices were the result of Congress and the president finally having dropped pointless restrictions on domestic oil production, we could all celebrate paying less at the pump.

(Well, maybe we'll celebrate anyway, now that gas prices -- at least in our area -- generally aren't knocking on the $4-per-gallon door.)

But the reason why prices have moderated a bit isn't that America has been freed from needless prohibitions on energy production in places such as Alaska and off our coasts, but that the U.S. and world economies are just so weak.

That has driven down demand for oil, which in turn has driven down prices. And the expectation is that demand isn't going to be soaring soon. U.S. gasoline consumption has fallen for more than 60 consecutive weeks.

Economists have significantly downgraded their projections for economic growth later this year as well.

One economist with BNP Paribas in New York put it bluntly: "We keep hoping that we're going to turn a corner and move into a stronger phase of recovery, and the door keeps getting slammed shut," Julia Coronado told The Associated Press.

And how.

U.S. employers added only 69,000 jobs in May, and unemployment rose to 8.2 percent. Meanwhile, consumer confidence has plunged -- which has serious implications, since consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of the economy.

So enjoy those lower gas prices, assuming you are fortunate enough to have a job that earns the wages required to pay even a reduced cost of filling up. A lot of Americans don't, and the prospects that they soon will do not seem encouraging.

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