This is inflationary, no way around it:
From RoadStar Truckers News:
7, July 1999
Diesel Prices Going Up, Up, Up
By Evan Lockridge, Contributing Editor
Diesel fuel prices have hit a 17-month high and could move even higher. Last week's numbers from the U.S. Department of Energy show the national average rose half a cent to $1.087 per gallon.
Tom Kloza of the Oil Price Information Service says an agreement by foreign oil producers to cut production earlier this year is helping to spur the hike.
"OPEC had their meeting in March and agreed to cut production by a significant amount," Kloza says. "No one in the industry really took it seriously to the extent that they thought they would live anywhere close to the agreements. But surprise surprise, they complied to about 85% or 86% to what they promised in the spring, and the latest figures show they're up to 94% compliance, which in the world of OPEC is a pretty high rate."
Kloza expects diesel prices to rise as much as another nickel a gallon before dropping a bit in September of October. Heat waves and hurricane season are also factor affecting fuel supplies.
He also cautions that around the end of the year there may be hoarding of fuel, as paranoia over the Y2K Millennium Bug grows.
and on the topic of "I thought free trade is good for America":
6, July 1999
Border War Heats Up as DOT Finds Illegal Mexican Trucks in U.S.
By Oliver B. Patton, Washington Editor
Mexican trucking companies are operating illegally outside the limits set by the North American Free Trade Agreement, said Kenneth Mead, inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Trucks operated by 68 Mexican companies were working in at least 24 states outside of the border states in 1998, Mead said in response to a query by Sen. Richard Shelby, R-AL. The trucks ranged as far west as Washington, north to the Dakotas, east to New York and Florida.
Mead's letter to Shelby ignited a political storm. Led by Rep. James Oberstar, D-MN, and supported by Teamsters General President James Hoffa, more than 250 congressmen wrote President Clinton demanding that the U.S. remain closed to interstate Mexican trucking until safety enforcement improves.
(cont)
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