Second Stimulus (and a Self Back Pat)

Back in August I was talking about a second stimulus for the economy. No, not the putative one talked about in the Great Sausage Factory, but the one coming from falling gas prices. I said a 50 cent reduction in gas prices meant about a $6 billion stimulus per month. Naturally, that's $72 billion per year. Turns out, we've seen gas prices drop $1.10. By my numbers then, that's $158.4 billion in annual savings to consumers. Mark Perry of Carpe Diem Blog, says it could be $188 billion. (Please note, DB's estimate is smack dab in the middle of Perry's range, and he's a professional economist. Not bad for a guy in his jammies, huh?) Furthermore, we appear to be crashing through $3.00 per gallon. If this is accurate, we're at $2.98, so tack on anther $6.8 billion. If we get back to $2.80 where we were just one year ago (and why wouldn't we?), throw another $30.8 billion onto the ole' camp fire, for a total of $225 billion. The checks the government mailed out in 2008 totaled something like $152 billion. That doesn't mean the economy won't be bad, but that is real money set to work exactly where and how it oughta be - in all of our hands for us to do with it as we will. No academic economist's mumbo-jumbo about "marginal propensity to consume" and no political mumbo-jumbo about "targeted" stimulus. Just plain ole' wide open, unfettered stimulus.

UPDATE: So the Baseball Family roadster hit the highways and byways this weekend, and we discovered gas at $2.73 per gallon in New Jersey, which is not known as a cheap gas mecca (unless you live in NY). Bloomberg reports that $50 crude options have soared and OPEC is scrambling to stem the slide (Iran and Venezuela are sweating profusely). The second stimulus is likely to blow through the $300 billion mark with any further declines.