Posted on 05/30/2004 7:45:04 AM PDT by TC Rider
I always expect the worst from the our local Democratic Party Organ, the Raleigh, NC, News and Observer.
I derive some small satisfaction that they usually have to give it away. I canceled our daily subscription back in 2000. Mrs. TC demands the weekend editions so we subscribe to Sat and Sunday delivery.
This morning I could not believe the front page. Nearly 2/3s was devoted to this headline:
It's worth noting that unemployment in NC has fallen to its lowest level in years here.
Is this story an aberration? Hardly, here are some stories from the past few days:
Like it or not, the jobs keep leaving
More seeking help in N.C. Gas, utility prices affecting the poor
Holiday travelers ready to brave high gas prices
Legislators talk of gas-tax relief
They keep harping on the high cost of gas (the sole remaining poor economic indicator), yet their lie is betrayed in their own paper, buried on the City/State page is this headline:
Probably because the story is good news. The NC beaches are literally packed this weekend. You cannot buy a parking space at Wrightsville Beach. The article interviews beach goers who say the price of gas is insignificant. The beach merchants are expecting their best summer in years, thanks to the thriving economy. This is the kind of good news the N&O can't stand.
According to the article, requests for tourist information are up 100% from last year. Revenue collections for the state from room taxes are way up from last year, $2.9 million from last year for March alone. "That's a record" said Woody Hall, an economist at UNC-Wilmington.
But the N&O will keep hammering the Bush economy and how horrible it is for women and minorities.
The sad thing is, we really don't expect any better from them.
Even sadder are polls that say most Americans don't believe the economy is improving. No wonder.
The thread is about using bogus complaints about oil prices in order to talk down the economy and win political points. In a free market wages and prices change. If they have to change, it's better if wages and prices to increase over time and not decrease. That means if inflation is 2.5 percent, the price of gas will double in 30 years.
In 2034, gas will be $4.00 per gallon, and in 5 billion years the sun will explode and we'll all be dead. Have a nice day.
Oil prices are a part of the economy, a small part. I've seen my own 15 mile commute increase in cost about $10.00/week. I realize for those at the very bottom, this could be a strain, but they should consider public transport, car-pooling, and other alternatives. I see cars, trucks and vans full of mexicans doing this everyday. They have the right idea.
Let's dump some of the BS restrictions, regulations, etc and let the free market take over. If ANWR and coastal drilling sites were opened, OPEC would be tripping all over themselves to lower prices. In the past, the mere threat of US domestic production increasing has been enough to prompt OPEC to open the taps.
If the EPA just got rid of the current boutique formulations for gas we'd see prices go down.
The current oil 'crisis' is a joke compared to the shortages in the '70s.
The point of the thread is the N&O making a mountain out of a molehill over gas prices. No one is going hungry, homeless, etc because of the current price per gallon.
LOL!
For somebody who claims to understand market economics, it is ironic that you'd base your prediction on a superficially favorable assumption of inflation rate.
More informed projections would at least intelligently examine the current growth rate of global demand and the growing scarcity of easily accessible global supplies.
Nobody knows for certain when we may be paying $4.00 per gallon gas.
But it's likely closer to 3 years from now than 30.
Good point. I missed that too.
Try Europe, it is $6.00 and rising.
But seriously folks, you had a point though about the impact of gas prices. In other words, it doesn't matter if gas prices double because they will. Like you say, what matters is the impact.
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