Soaring oil prices threaten to hit US growth, worsen inflation and keep the Federal Reserve from lowering interest rates, top economists have warned ahead of the central bank\u2019s first rate decision since the Iran war began.<\/p>\n
US oil prices have jumped almost 50 per cent since the US and Israel struck Iran at the end of last month to about $95 a barrel, sending the costs of petrol and diesel at the pump surging higher.<\/p>\n
The majority of academic economists polled by the Clark Center for Global Markets on behalf of the FT said that, if oil prices were to remain at $100 a barrel, slightly above their current level, US growth will decline markedly.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In another shocking finding, the poll indicated that these economists believed that a significant increase in oil prices would affect the US inflation rate.<\/p>\n
As statements of the \"bleedin' obvious\" go, this article takes some beating. No one needed a PhD in economics to reach those conclusions, though it appears the US administration was unaware of the risk of such events.<\/p>\n
The problem with this report is that, like so much of the news now, it so glaringly obviously misses the point. Supposed research has been put into finding out what is already known or is obvious, but no analysis of the consequences follows.<\/p>\n
There is no questioning of what strategy might be adopted to deal with the situation, beyond suggesting that the Fed is now unlikely to cut interest rates. Doom and gloom is spread, and there is plenty enough of it to go around, but how the problem might be solved by, for example, by ending the war, changing taxes, creating Federal support programmes, releasing more oil reserves, or even, in the case of the USA, by blocking oil exports so that production may be diverted to domestic markets at government controlled prices; none of that is mentioned.<\/p>\n
It is this absence of critical thinking in our media which I find so worrying at present, and an explanation for why so many people are alienated by the news.<\/p>\n
Why, What, When, Where, Who, and How are the questions that the media is meant to answer? I would also add \"Next\". Right now, it seems that the media has forgotten to ask why, and it has certainly forgotten to ask the \"what's next\" question, and that is the one that everybody wants to know about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was amused by this headline in the FT this morning: As they then noted: Soaring oil prices threaten to hit US growth, worsen inflation
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