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Americans think worst of 2008 oil spike over: poll
Emily Kaiser, Reuters
Most Americans think that the worst of the fuel price spike that pushed gasoline above $4 per gallon has passed, but they have little hope that the housing market will stage a swift recovery, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.
… The poll of 1,089 likely voters found that just under 13 percent thought gasoline prices would rise a lot between now and the end of the year. About one quarter thought prices would rise a little, while one in three thought they would drop a little and 18 percent said they would stay about the same.
(20 August 2008)
In the Central Valley, the Ruins of the Housing Bust
David Streitfeld, New York Times
… hardly anyone in Merced [California] planned very far ahead.
Not the city, which enthusiastically approved the creation of dozens of new neighborhoods without pausing to wonder if it could absorb the growth.
Certainly not the developers. They built 4,397 new homes in those neighborhoods, some costing half a million dollars, without asking who in a city of only 80,000 could afford to buy them all.
Obviously not the speculators turned landlords, who thought that they could get San Francisco rents in a working-class agricultural city ranked by the American Lung Association as having some of the worst air in the nation.
And, sadly, not the local folk who moved up and took on more debt than they could afford. They believed – because who was telling them differently? – that the good times would be endless.
“Owning a home is the American dream,” says Jamie Schrole, a Merced real estate agent. “Everybody was just trying to live out their dream.”
The belief that this dream could be achieved with no risk, no worry and no money down was at the center of the American romance with real estate in the early years of this decade, and not just in Merced.
How long will the economy have to pay the price for that illusion? The experience of Merced, which rose higher and fell faster than nearly anywhere else, suggests that recovery from the national real estate debacle will be painful and protracted.
(23 August 2008)
U.S. and Global Economies Slipping in Unison
Peter S. Goodman, New York Times
Economic trouble has spread far beyond the United States to major countries in Europe and Asia, threatening American businesses with the loss of foreign sales and investment that have become increasingly vital to their sustenance.
Only a few months ago, some economists still offered hope that robust expansion could continue in much of the world even as the United States slowed. Foreign investment was expected to keep replenishing American banks still bleeding from their disastrous bets on real estate and to provide money for companies looking to expand. Overseas demand for American goods and services was supposed to continue compensating for waning demand in the States.
Now, high energy prices, financial systems crippled by fear, and the decline of trading partners have combined to choke growth in many major economies. The International Monetary Fund expects global growth to slow significantly through the end of this year, dipping to 4.1 percent from 5 percent in 2007.
(23 August 2008)
Oil and gas playing dumb and numbers
Susan Greene, Denver Post
We’ve heard the U.S. is lagging behind in math skills.
But nobody seems more arithmetically challenged than the folks who crunch numbers for oil and gas.
For months, the industry estimated that if the feds leased mineral rights on the Roan Plateau, in northwest Colorado, drilling would rake in $1 billion for the state.
“People need to keep their eyes on the $1 billion prize for Colorado, which could be the financial turnaround for the state’s fiscal condition,” harped Greg Schnacke of the Golden-based industry group Americans for American Energy.
But last week, when the Bureau of Land Management auctioned off natural-gas rights on the Roan, it became clear that Colorado’s share would be just $56 million – far less than the windfall Schnacke promised…
(21 August 2008)
UPDATE (Aug 26): Updated link.
