Posted on 04/11/2008 7:26:37 AM PDT by Lazamataz
U.S. import prices rose by a more-than-expected 2.8 percent in March as petroleum prices jumped 9.1 percent, a Labor Department report showed Friday.
U.S. export prices rose 1.5 percent during the month, also more than expected and the largest monthly gain on record, as prices for farm and food products continued to rise.
Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a 2 percent rise in import prices in March after a 0.2 percent gain in February. They also forecast a 0.5 percent rise in export prices after a previously reported 0.9 percent gain in February, which the Labor Department revised to 1.1 percent.
The larger-than-expected rise in import prices boosted the dollar in early trading after the report. Stronger inflation could limit the Federal Reserve's ability to cut interest rates during the current economic slowdown.
Import prices have risen 14.8 percent over the last 12 months, the largest year-to-year gain since the Labor Department began publishing the data.
A large factor was petroleum prices, which have risen 60 percent over the past year, although prices for food, feed and beverages have increased 14 percent. Export prices have risen 7.9 percent over the last 12 months, the largest increase since the Labor Department began publishing the data.
Prices for agricultural exports and food, feed and beverage exports have both risen more than 33 percent over the past year.
We can just spend & regulate our way out of it, right!?
Well, at least McCain is backing off his mortgage plan. Or so he says.
We are in a ‘Pay Back’ period where the excesses of the recent past are going to correct themselves. In this instance, the excesses have been significant and the ‘Pay Back’ will be severe.
If the USA weren’t such saps, our food and grain export prices would rise exactly equal to the 9.1% jump in petroleum imports, not 2.8%. The Arabs can’t grow much in the desert, and our farmers are spending a fortune on fuel and fertilizer, so it’s time we charge them what they are charging us.
AT what point is common sense going to kick in? A native instinct for survival would dictate that when something gets so expensive in terms of how many hours have to be sacrificed to secure the benefits perceived, that alternatives would be applied.
In an updated version of burning trash and rubbish to dispose of it (which actually yields very little except a somewhat more acceptable environment, and possibly a little heat that may or may not serve a useful purpose), we now have technology available that can convert all this trash into (a) electricity; (b) a good grade of building material, or possibly a source for recovery of some valuable metallic elements, and (c) and excellent source of hydrogen, the “fuel of the future”, which is so highly touted by the “green” movement. Of course, there is a concurrent production of carbon dioxide, but keep in mind that carbon dioxide is measured in parts per MILLION in the atmosphere, and as a “greenhouse gas”, its impact on global warming or cooling has about one-tenth of one percent that of water vapor.
Carbon dioxide is plant food. Without it, plants shrivel and die, which in itself generates carbon dioxide.
And methane.
And ammonia.
Let's just say I'm a service industry worker, like a majority of our workforce (average worker). All of my costs go up, and probably lag behind wage cost of living increases. If I'm not an assembly line worker, when do I see a benefit from rising import prices?
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