Nuke's

The Dow closed below 8000 today for the first time in over 5 years. As the economy continues its downward spiral, another 5% in market cap has been peeled away. October consumer prices also fell by their largest margin margin in 60 years.

Here’s an economic stimulus idea for Congress. How about getting busy buying some long term oil contracts and begin refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The Democrats voted to stop filling the SPR over 6 months ago in order to put an additional 70000 bbs/day on the market. Ostensibly, this would help bring down prices. Well, oil prices are definitely down, and filling the SPR would make sense from an economic as well as national security standpoint. This is something that even a lame duck session could accomplish.

As prices for consumer products and commodities continue to fall, fears of a deflationary cycle have caused the Fed to forget about inflation. You may have also noticed a word that I’ve begun hearing more often than I can ever remember: depression as in “The Great.” I’ve wondered what a sure-enough depression would look like in 21st century America. Drake Bennett has too. His article in The Boston Globe is worth reading. Here is the link

Filed under: News and politics Tagged: | business and economy, deflation, depression, dow, oil prices, strategic petroleum reserve