Katie Couric's Notebook: Isn't It Ironic?

By: Katie Couric
Topics: Katie Couric's Notebook

It's ironic in an Alanis Morissette kind of way that gas prices are down now that the summer travel months are behind us. A USA Today poll from earlier in the year found that a third of Americans canceled vacations because of pain at the pump.

But in the past few days, gas station managers couldn't change those signs fast enough. The prices are dropping quickly…back to below three dollars a gallon in many areas. Crude oil…which makes up a big chunk of the price of gas…has fallen 44 percent since the spring.

Not to be the black fly in your chardonnay, but cheaper gas is kind of a mixed blessing. It means demand is down and people are spending less.

Some economists say it's a harbinger of a coming recession and possibly more job losses. If that's true, those four dollar gallons we bemoaned might have been a good thing. That's either ironic, or just the law of supply and demand economics.

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by petersemkiw October 16, 2008 4:24 AM EDT: Now it''s like a free ride,
When you''ve already paid!! Heck!

Oh Yeah, Katie! It''s ironic in an Alanis Morissette kind of way!!; Reply to this comment


by kenhamlett October 16, 2008 2:24 AM EDT: Dear KC, you may not realize that the most ironic part is how you and AM each have had a common factor of interference in your endeavors. You both were led to the wrong fork in the road.
As for the irony of gasoline, I think it was more a matter of manipulation as prices rose but now they have to fall back before the election. As for being able to afford the prices, it is not really much different except that before the rise they just used credit if they could not afford it but now there is less credit so their cars, the ones bought on credit, are sitting at home more often. Once everyone remembers that cash is the proper medium of exchange they can get back on track and maybe accumulate some of that elusive cash.; Reply to this comment


by marciala49 October 16, 2008 1:57 AM EDT: About two years later, Obama
entered Harvard Law School. Do you have any idea what tuition
is for Harvard Law School? *Where did he get the money
for **Law** **School**?* More student loans? After Law
school, he went back to Chicago. Rezko offered him a job,
which he turned down. But, he did take a job with Davis,
Miner, Barnhill & Galland. Guess what?; Reply to this comment


by marciala49 October 16, 2008 1:53 AM EDT: ''Barry'' (that was the name he used all his
life) during this time had two roommates, Muhammad Hasan
Chandoo and Wahid Hamid, both from Pakistan. During the
summer of 1981, he made a
''round the world'' trip. Stopping to see his mother
in Indonesia, next Hyderabad in India, three weeks in Karachi,
Pakistan where he stayed with his roommate''s family, then off
to Africa to visit his father''s family. *Where
did he get the money for this trip?* I, nor any one of
my children would have had money for a trip like this when
they where in college. When he came back he started school
at Columbia University in New York. It is at this time he
wants everyone to call him Barack - not Barry. Do you know
what the tuition is at Columbia? *Where did he get money for tuition?* Student Loans?
After Columbia, he went to Chicago to work as a
Community Organizer for $12,000. a year. Why Chicago? Why
not New York? He was & nbsp;already living in New York.

By ''chance'' he met Antoin ''Tony'' Rezko, born in Aleppo Syria,
and a real estate developer in Chicago. Rezko has been
convicted of fraud and bribery this year. Rezko, was named
''Entrepreneur of the Decade'' by the Arab-American Business and
Professional Association''. :; Reply to this comment


by marciala49 October 16, 2008 1:48 AM EDT: Around 1979 Obama started college at Occidental in California.
He is very open about his two years at Occidental, tried
all kinds of drugs and was wasting his time but, ;had a brilliant mind, did not apply himself to his
studies.; Reply to this comment


by kight67i October 16, 2008 1:28 AM EDT: IN THE DEBATE ALL I HEAR FROM OBAMA HEALTH CARE THROW MONEY AT IT ....BACKED BY THE GOVERNMENT....EDUCATION.....THROW MONEY AT IT...BACKED BY THE GOVERNMENT....GUESS WHAT I AM THE GOVERNMENT... I AM THE TAXPAYER... I SAY NO TO BIG GOVERNMENT... AND HOW IN THE WORLDCAN HE CUT TAXES FOR 95% OF AMERICANS WHEN HE WANTS TO THROW MY TAX DOLLARS AT IT. IT STINKS OF BIG GOVERNMENT....GO AHEAD AND VOTE FOR HIM... YOU WILL PAY... HE JUST TOLD YOU SO; Reply to this comment


by skeezix06 October 16, 2008 12:39 AM EDT: You know, I''m really getting tired of seeing Obama and/or McCain injected into everything 24/7; Reply to this comment


by kight67i October 15, 2008 11:38 PM EDT: ayers....rezko....rev. wright....acorn....vera baker....fannie mae and fredddie mac.....all the obamas men and woman... where is vera baker? martinique? why? Wake-up America and Ask these questions? why are you associated with a bomber, hater,felon, mistress,failed financial institutions and voter fraud? The road to the whitehouse seems to be paved on their backs.; Reply to this comment


by lfbarman October 15, 2008 10:29 PM EDT: What is Katie asking questions about someone else infidelity? Is she trying to stir something up? Look at Katies eyes as she talks to Obama then check out the look with McCain. I saw it!; Reply to this comment


by skeezix06 October 15, 2008 10:13 PM EDT: Regular gas may have gone down but diesel is still the same.

So let me ask you, Katie. Why? And what happened to the price of gas the last time regular went down but diesel remained the same?; Reply to this comment