Greensboro economy
Is the economy worse now than it was last year? Assuming it is, what do you think the leadership should do about it?
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Comments (3)
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I have not been in Greensboro this month, so I have no idea. I have noticed restaurants and golf course use is down most everywhere I go. I guess Pelosi's common sense plan to lower gas prices has not kicked in yet. Never will, but it sounded good in the liberal media before the election, for some reason they do not want to talk about it now. Wonder why?
Posted on May 23, 2008 6:11 AM
As long as conservatives in Congress and George Bush keep cutting taxes on the oil companies, and kissing the feet of Saudi oil princes, gas prices will continue to be a drain on the economy.
Conservative voters might consider the theory that the Bush/Cheney administration that they voted for twice is not loyal to America -- it is serving Saudi Arabia and other OPEC nations
Posted on May 23, 2008 8:38 AM
Two things about the dramatic run-up in gasoline and oil prices: First, it has nothing to do with what Nancy Pelosi, Congress, or the president has done or is doing. It also has nothing to do with OPEC, which was squeezing all it could from us back when oil was $35/barrel.
What's happened is that world demand for oil has increased and is unlikely to fall during the foreseeable future. Blame the emerging BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China) if you want, but we've been urging them to become more capitalist, and it appears that we got our wish. Our best move now is to start moving our economy toward a fuel-efficient future. That's what we did in the late '70s and early '80s, the last time oil prices shot up. The economy is now twice as energy-efficient as in 1975. We can do that again.
Second, none of this has anything to do with my colleague Keith Debbage's report, for two reasons. One is that the report is based on 2006 data. Oil prices were rising in 2006, as they had been since about 2002, but this hadn't yet emerged as the major factor that it is now.
The other reason is that even now, it's hard to argue that high fuel prices are hurting Greensboro more than anywhere else in the U.S. If we're talking about Greensboro, the issues are jobs, commercial development, real estate, and other local factors.
Posted on May 23, 2008 10:41 AM