re: Prices Fall to a Six-Year Low for U.S. Oil

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Explain to me how lower oil prices is going to effect me working in a hospital.

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Don't know where you live, but let's say it is a town like Lafayette. Let's say 30% of the people in that town get laid off. They lose their cushy health insurance and now require government funded health care. This puts a strain on the budget and the government comes in and starts dictating which doctors can be seen due to pricing. Health care industry just got affected.

My wife worked in the hospitality and tourism industry. She spoke with her old office and their budget was cut in half due to expectation of hotel stays going down due to reduction in business and conferences.

My dad works in the medical field with sports medicine. Deals with mostly high school athletes. All the kids whose parents made that oil field money probably aren't going to be spending quite as much on things physical therapy and treatments that they were willing to shell out money for before. Your kids shoulder soreness after pitching may no longer seem like a big deal when you don't have an income.

No one is saying that accountants, doctors, and librarians are going to be living under bridges. But to say that the oilfield is not a huge part of the economy of the states on the gulf coast is stupid. And when it's such a big part (I would say damn near 40% of peoples income in South LA is tied to oil), their pain will be felt at least somewhat by everyone when their pocket books close up. It's ignorant to believe otherwise.

Houston, NOLA, and even Lafayette and Houma type towns are not going to become ghost towns. But it's not going to be business as usual either.