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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tommaso who wrote (76051)	2/17/2000 10:28:00 AM
From: Don Lloyd	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

Tommaso - [[This morning they had Ron Insana for a few minutes on regular NBC morning news/Today show. He was implying that the rise in oil prices might be good for the US economy because it would "slow it down" thereby making it unnecessary for the Fed to raise interest rates. He compared it to a tax increase. So OPEC is administering US fiscal policy, I take it. For our own good. ]] The high(?) oil price is not an overwhelming problem in and of itself, but tends to stir up the politicians who will effectively insist that any rise in prices must come from a tax increase. The high price DOES reveal structural deficiencies in the economy, such as anti-supply regulations and the lack of any fuel-cost-adder provisions for the smaller trucking firms and individual truckers. Neither the suppliers nor the consumers of trucking services have likely used the energy futures markets to lay off risk. The real risk to the economy is not only the cost of energy, but its shortage if prices are not allowed to rise to bring on supply. Any significant loss in trucking capacity due to either high prices or shortages of fuel would be serious. Regards, Don