There has been much brou-ha-ha made about “demand destruction” in the gasoline market.

Demand for gasoline in the United States has declined in the last month as gasoline spiked over $4. The media announced that Americans were changing their behavior and cutting back on driving.

Basically- higher prices make people cut back.

But do they? Or will demand come back as Americans get “used to” the higher prices?

I filled up in the western surburbs of Chicago for $4.09 on Friday and thought, “wow- that’s pretty cheap.” The prior fill-up was at $4.32.

ha! ha!

What is cheap gas?

“Cheap” is now about $4.00 a gallon.

But I found even “cheaper” gas when I was in Southwest Michigan over the weekend. Usually, gas prices are at least equivalent to the Chicago area (outrageous, I know. The taxes must be high. I didn’t think taxes could be higher than DuPage and Cook Counties.)

However, prices were even “cheaper” than the $4.09 I filled up with a few days before. I actually got gas for $3.82 a gallon and thought, “wow- that’s really cheap.”

How pathetic is that?

If I’m like everyone else, it makes me think that Americans are “getting used to” the higher gas prices- psychologically- and when that happens it’s not a big stretch to think that prices could stay around that level and behaviors would return (driving for vacations, driving to work instead of taking the train etc.)

Fewer RVs

What I did notice driving around the highways of three Midwestern states this weekend (Illinois, Indiana and Michigan) is that there were a lot fewer vans and RVs out.

Usually, this time of the year, there are quite a few of the big campers and RVs. I saw only two. And, I do have to admit, I thought, “what are they thinking?” as I drove by. I can’t imagine what it costs to drive one of those even 100 miles.

Limited Charging for Gas

Another thing I found interesting was at one gas station in Michigan it had an announcement that due to some kind of regulations from Visa and Mastercard, you couldn’t “pay at the pump” for more than $50 worth of gasoline at one time.

For some cars, that’s not even half a tank.

I’ve never heard of this before. The announcement said it was the policy of Visa and Mastercard.

You COULD get more gas- but you had to close out the transaction and start it up again (basically- do it twice.)

What’s the point of that? More transaction fees for Visa and Mastercard (of course.) Strangest thing I’ve ever seen on a gasoline pump (and it was NOT a handwritten sign- it was a sticker on the pump and said “don’t blame us! It’s the card companies.”)

Anyone else ever heard of this? I’ve never seen such a “policy” here in the Chicago area or any other major city I’ve ever filled up in (San Jose, San Francisco, Washington DC.)

Things are getting very interesting out there.

I’ll admit it. I watch American Idol.

There. I said it.

But I do have to wonder in this first week as the viewers had to endure 24 singers- what am I doing spending 2 hours on two consecutive nights watching this stuff? That’s four hours (plus the calling to friends to discuss the singers more in-depth.) It could be up to six hours just on this one crazy, dumb tv show.

Pathetic, I know.

There are more important things to be worrying about like:

- the hottest inflation rate in several years
- record gold prices
- record crude prices

And on and on and on.

Not to mention the housing bust, of which I’ve spent a lot of time discussing as well.

But alas, if you watch a bunch of young (and some not so young) singers for several hours every night (even if you DO have a DVR and race through the commercials), that doesn’t leave you much time for blogging (or anything else for that matter.)

For this week, bare with me. I’m sorry. Idol is on and I’m wasting my time, er, watching it.

By the way, who do you think won Project Runway this season?

Tomorrow: more to come on what’s hot in the investing world.

While everyone else was concerned about steroids and the “death of baseball” after the release of the Mitchell Report, the first thing that popped into my head was, “I wonder what this will do to the value of the baseball cards of those included in the report?”

Specifically, that of Roger Clemens. He is, without a doubt, among the most famous pitchers in baseball over the last 20 years. Along with Barry Bonds, his rookie baseball card used to be worth big money in the early 1990s- before the bursting of the baseball card bubble and before the sting of steroids.

What was his rookie season? 1985.

But now that Clemens has been specifically fingered, will it bring down the price of his card? Barry Bonds’ rookie card suffered for years even as he was breaking one of the most sacred records in baseball. His card just doesn’t go up in value.

Apparently, I’m not the only one asking such questions. From WECT TV6 in Wilmington:

Jim Smith, the owner of the sports card store says that some of Barry Bonds’ memorabilia has decreased in value, and some rookie cards of other players listed in the Mitchell Report may go down in price as well.

However, Smith notes that at times like this, some collectors are dying to get their hands on some memorabilia.

“Sometimes stuff like this actually caught, makes the stuff sell better. A good example will be O.J. Simpson. For about two months there, you could sell anything you could get your hands on with O.J. Simpson, and then that went away. People get caught up in a hype,” explained Smith.

There is no doubt that steroid allegations are hurting the memorabilia market for some of baseball’s biggest stars. This includes the all-important rookie card of these players.

From the Rocky Mountain News:

There was a time when sports collectors were willing to spend $200 for Mark McGwire’s rookie baseball card.

Bill’s Sports Collectibles now sells the card for $30.

Whatever inventory Bill’s Sports Collectibles has of McGwire and Barry Bonds in his South Broadway store isn’t worth very much today.

The players’ appeal has fallen considerably for baseball fans since allegations began surfacing in recent years they used steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs to bash home runs, Bill Vizas, the store’s owner, said Thursday.

“We don’t actively pursue Mark McGwire or Barry Bonds,” Vizas said.

Rookie cards at Bill’s Sports Collectibles for Bonds and seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens also are going for about $30. Select Topps baseball cards might go for substantially higher online, Vizas said.

Brutal price reductions send the message.

No one wants you. The kiss of death in collecting.

Might these cards be “value” investments right now? Maybe in 10 years they will regain their luster.

Bonds’ card has been down on its luck for years, though. It seems unlikely that he will be able to turn around his image anytime soon. Baseballs signed by Clemens sell for as much as $350. It’s likely that value will drop now. By how much? That’s anyone’s guess. Same thing will happen with the rookie cards. The Mitchell Report is leaving a bad taste in fans’ mouths, that’s for sure.

All I know is- owning the rookie card of one of the guys in the report seems pretty risky as an investment. I’ll stick to my Cal Ripken and Greg Maddux instead. Thanks.

Shareholders of copper and gold miner Freeport McMoran (FCX) are panicking on the Yahoo Message Boards. Freeport has been hammered the last few sessions, including a 10% sell-off on Monday. The stock is down over 20% in the last week.

Some posters are just saying things like, “it’s scary” and others wondering if the stock is going to keep plunging to infinity and beyond. This poster, yourkillinme, has had enough of the panic:

MORONS OR SHEEP or are they SHEEP MORONS? (surely some sheep are dumber than others)

It really doesnt matter. Even if they’re lemmings they’re destined to die of stupidity.

Go on now and sell, before you die of a heart attack!

It’s all fine and good when the stock is going up, up, up. But investors don’t know what to do when a stock has a sharp sell-off. The same company has suddenly gone on sale- yet investors are loath to buy in when the selling gets hot.

It’s why very few investors are “great” investors. Their stomachs can’t handle going against the sheep and buying when everyone else is selling.

Can you?