As MSNBC reports, crude oil prices are creeping upward on reports of positive economic news around the globe, but not before they hit their lowest price in over a year on Friday: $77.70 a barrel. Turns out the global recession is lowering demand for oil, forcing prices into an overall downward trend, a cycle at least one analyst expects to continue in the short term. The result at home has been a drop in gas prices from a national average of $4.11 per gallon in mid-July to the current $3.35 for a gallon of dino-juice — just the thing to prop up consumer confidence, at least until OPEC's special meeting next month, which actually might have more to do with propping up the Dow Jones Industrial Average today than anything else. So do your part, folks: Drive your cars or the domestic terrorists on Wall Street win!