| Squeeze's Effect Is Amplified On the Less Affluent
Motorists aren't waiting in long lines for gasoline. Consumers continue to spend. Affluent Americans remain barely affected. The U.S. economy has proven remarkably resilient during oil's rise to $100 a barrel. The last big surge, almost three decades ago, contributed to a moribund economy and tight times for many. Yet as the fourth year of rising fuel prices filters down to the pump, to grocery bills and to the thermostat, the cost is clearly starting to pinch some Americans. Gasoline prices lately -- now averaging about $3.05 for a gallon of the regular variety, according to federal data -- are near their highest since 1981, adjusted for inflation. Heating oil also is at historically high levels once adjusted. Many Americans have made only small changes -- meaning oil has room to climb before Americans take bigger steps.
The Full Story
Mike Everett, business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 34, has been closely involved in the ethanol plant since 2002, when he began trying to secure construction jobs for union members. Everett said union representatives and farmers often are on different sides of the fence politically, but they see eye to eye on this issue. "I think the world of those guys," he said. "I feel bad for those guys. In good faith they relied on people who were supposed to be experts in the field. . . . Their futures were all hung on the production of alcohol. They've been hurt a hundred times worse than us." Now farmers are concerned about the contracts they signed to provide corn to Central Illinois Energy. In the fall, farmers delivered 1.5 million bushels of corn to Central Illinois Grain, which is at the plant site.
Raul Castro pips Fidel Castro in vote count
Emergency intestinal surgery for an undisclosed illness forced Castro, 81, to hand over the running of the government to his brother in July 2006 for the first time since he took power in a 1959 revolution. He has only been seen in video and photographs since then, looking gaunt and frail. Castro left his options open by again standing as a candidate for the National Assembly, but he recently hinted in a newspaper column that he might step down as head of state. Voting is not obligatory in Cuba, although Cubans are expected to turn out to show their support for the one-party political system, and 96.9 percent of voters did so in this month's election. (Reporting by Anthony Boadle) .
Maturing debt:
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is in discussions with Centro, and the corporate regulator is understood to be interested in those disclosure problems. Mr Scott had run Centro since 1997 and oversaw its expansion from a small shopping centre owner to a $27billion behemoth. Centro has until February 15 to refinance $1.3 billion of debt or face receivership. Share this article What is this? .
Spillover from bleak housing sector could effect Inland retail ...
The Inland region, like much of the nation, could be in for a rough year in terms of growing and retaining retail tenants, analysts say. The culprit is the housing slump, whose ferocity has led retailers to rethink their existing deployment and slow down expansion plans. Locally, as in areas from Phoenix to Cleveland, home foreclosures and poor holiday sales are leading to closures and delayed openings. .
|
