Somewhat akin to the infamous Chicken Little fable that many of us remember from our childhood or have read to our own children, it would appear that various segments of our economy are running in fear of the "economic sky falling." There is no doubt that the U.S. economy is not its normal, robust self these days. In fact, it is reeling from the riveting blows of mortgage crisis, foreclosures, falling home values, higher energy cost, rising unemployment, a faltering stock market, weakening U.S. Dollar and a genuine fear of inflation. What we are experiencing now is the true impact of the economic trickle down theory. In other words, the real impact of higher crude oil cost has now saturated our economy at all levels. As consumers, we feel this impact every time we go to the grocery store, purchase any item that requires shipping or has a crude oil content, arrange for travel on any airline, pay our electrical utility bill, and of course, fill up our automobiles with gasoline. In other words, everything we purchase or use that has a crude oil content has exhibited significant increases in price over the last few months and that is likely to continue into the future.
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