Could Gasoline Prices Trigger A Recession

Yesterday I pulled into my local gas station and went through the automated motions of filling up my non-green, oil consuming, emission generating vehicle while thinking about my day of meetings ahead of me.  While the pump did its job I checked my email and scrolled the web for the latest headlines out of Europe.  As the pump shut off I extracted the nozzle from my car and replaced it on the pump while looking up to see what the damage was going to be to my credit card.  What?  I had to look twice as the pump read $39.02.  I am normally pushing over $50 during my regular fill-ups so breaking $40 was delightful.  I then looked down to see what the cost of the unleaded fuel was per gallon - $3.08.  My only thought at that elated moment was "cool".

As I got back into my car I decided to do two things:  1) take myself out to a more expensive lunch today with my new found savings; and 2) I quickly scrolled my phone to find the price of oil.  At $101 a barrel going into the market open our commodity longs were doing great - but it got me to thinking about how the price of gasoline could be so cheap at the same time the price of oil was cresting the century mark?  The implications from a rise in gasoline prices in an already weak economy would have negative ramifications not only ...