From the USA Today
DETROIT — In matter of weeks, maybe days, Midwest motorists will see gasoline prices drop below $1 a gallon for the first time since 1999, but the stock market is in a depressive funk.
What gives? Certainly there is more good news here than bad, right? Well, maybe.
Here are six reasons why falling energy prices are a mixed blessing:
Lost jobs. For autoworkers pondering how to spend their profit-sharing checks, this is the best of all possible worlds. Why not go for the heavy-duty pickup or the ginormous SUV that can tow an RV? For a roughneck who just lost his job on a Gulf oil drilling platform, or the 130,000 energy industry workers who lost jobs in 2015 this is looking more like the bad old days of 2009.
401(k) losses. Anyone with retirement savings has seen that nest egg shrink in recent weeks as the stock market has followed plunging energy prices. Depending on how close one is to tapping a 401(k), many of us have a few extra bucks for a six-pack of craft beer or a couple caramel macchiatos at Starbucks, but that won’t do much to boost total retail spending.
