Oil falls below $52, but overall going up.

Kuwait is happy with the current oil price. Shouldn’t we all be?

Surprise, surprise. Oil is overbought again. Who will be caught by the shorts this time?

Gas prices up over $2/gal. Not new news, but not good news either.

This from the Coyote Blog that says the idea of high oil prices inducing an atmosphere of frugality that will stick around is pie in the sky.

We have a feeling guys are relieved not to have to choose which kind of hybrid to buy. Phew!

Coyote says:

Prices matter. Nearly every other form of communication, from advertising to public education to presidential fireside chats to go-green guilt promotion campaigns pale in comparison to the power of prices to affect behavior.

Read the whole article, and check out the graphs.

Matt Simmons is not the only one who sees the price of ol heading north again. Richard W. Rahn of the Cato Institute says the price of oil will soar again. What with the global demand, supply and the economy, the only place for prices to go is up.

Producing oil is not like just turning on a water faucet. Now that companies have cut production of the high cost facilities (think oil sands) due to the current price drop, there will be a lag to get them up and running again when it will once again be worth it to the producers.

The economy is an issue as well. Inflation won’t be a good thing for consumers. When we it gets growing again, demand for oil will “rise again.”

Best guess, $3 or $4 gas coming soon.

Matt Simmons, author of “Twilight in the Desert,” sees the credit crunch and the $100 drop in oil prices since last year as alarming. How can companies continue their levels of production with the decrease in levels of spending?

We are three, six, maybe nine months away from a price shock. We are not talking about three to five years away - it will be much sooner,” Simmons told Reuters in London.

Pres. Obama announced today that he would announce in a few days (got that?) plans to help the auto industry.

Not to pursue business as usual though.

“I think it is appropriate for us to say are there ways for us to provide help to the U.S. auto industry to get through this very difficult time, but the price is you’ve got to finally restructure to deal with these long-standing problems,” he said during an online question-and-answer session.

“That means that everybody’s going to have to give a little bit — shareholders, workers, creditors, suppliers, dealers — everybody is going to have to recognize that the current model economic model of the U.S. auto industry is unsustainable.”

The Big Three seem willing to work with the government for their “rescue plan,” which is a good thing since Obama added

if they’re not willing to make the changes in the restructuring that are necessary, then I’m not willing to have taxpayer money chase after bad money,” Obama added. “A lot of it is going to depend on their willing to make some pretty drastic changes, and some of those are still going to be painful.”

Sounds like it’s definitely time to cut production on those SUVs.