Experts  are saying that gas will be under $3 by the fall. Though our pain at  the pump may be much lower than now, it's not good news. It indicates  that the nearly stalled US and global economy are only going to get  worse.

There  are a few locations throughout the nation that have enjoyed under $3  gas for the last couple of weeks as I noted in my weekly National Gas Prices - A Snapshot.

Those states  this past Monday were:

Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and South Carolina.

The  darkening clouds of the slowing economy could provide a bright spot for  consumers: gasoline at $3 a gallon — or less — by autumn.

Nationally,  regular gasoline averages $3.47 a gallon, down 47 cents from this  year's high in April and well below the $5-a-gallon fears fanned earlier  this year by energy speculators, Middle East tensions and oil refinery  glitches that crimped supplies.

Those issues appear to be over,  at least for now. Thursday, benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude oil  fell 4% to $78.20 a barrel, the lowest price since early October and off  20% year-to-date. Coupled with slumping wholesale gasoline contracts  for fall delivery, "the market is suggesting gas below $3 by Halloween,  and certainly by Thanksgiving," says Tom Kloza of the Oil Price  Information Service.

With production up, oil inventories at  21-year highs and tepid consumer demand, gas prices have fallen for 11  weeks. They're expected to drop more sharply after the peak summer  driving season.

"Demand just isn't there," says Brian Milne of  energy tracker Televent DTN, noting an Energy Department report that  demand for fuel over the past four weeks has fallen 5% below year-ago  levels. "It's been dreadful."

Barring supply disruptions heading  into hurricane season — which helped drive pump prices to an all-time  $4.11 high in July 2008 — consumers could soon be filling up at prices  not seen since December 2010.

http://usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/story/2012-06-20/oil-gas-prices/55746372/1

How will this play out in presidential politics?

Even  though Americans will be feeling less pain at the pump will the  downturn in the economic picture offset any optimism over low gas  prices?

Will this make getting re-electing more difficult for President Barack Obama?

Will lower gas prices help or hinder presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney?

From  the Cornfield, while I welcome gas cost going down, I do not welcome  the downturn in the US and global economy which pushed the price down.

This just means substituting one pain for another.