years. But it wasn't so long ago that people were complaining about high prices. So what

happened? The first thing to know is that gasoline prices are largely driven by oil

prices, and those oil prices are set in a global market, and largely determined by the

supply and demand of oil. The countries that produce the most oil right now are Saudi Arabia,

Russia, and the United States. Saudi Arabia is part of an organization called OPEC. In

the past, OPEC has often tried to coordinate its production in order to try to get the

price it prefers. On the other side, the biggest consumers of oil are the U.S., China and Japan.

Starting in the 2000s, oil prices began rising rapidly. That was because China was growing

fast and oil production wasn't keeping up. This led to a huge spike in prices and a lot

of talk about peak oil. But those higher prices also made it profitable for the U.S. and Canada

to start going after harder-to-extract oil in shale formations and tar sands. That led

to a rise in supply. By 2014, that extra supply, combined with a slowdown in demand in Europe

and Asia all came together to create a price crash. And that's better news for some than

others. In Russia and some OPEC countries, low oil prices threaten their national budgets.

OPEC could try to cut production to try to prop up the price of oil, but they haven't

done that this time. They're hoping that low prices will make some of the newest U.S. producers

unprofitable. In the meantime, American consumers are getting a big break. If gas stays under

$2.80/gallon, families could save $700 over a year, by one estimate. That would boost

the economy. In recent years, the U.S. has been using less and less oil because people

are buying more fuel-efficient cars. But when gas prices go back down, we do the reverse

and start buying more gas guzzlers and SUVs. So when buying a vehicle, keep in mind that

a car can last 10 years or more, but if history is any guide, low oil prices won't last that long.