'No Quick Fix' as Oil Prices Rise, Job Cuts Continue
Employers cut 60,000 jobs last month, continuing a six-month streak of job losses, according to new labor statistics. On top of that, oil hit a new record of $145 per barrel today. The combination led Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to warn that there are "no quick fixes" to what is likely to be a long economic slowdown. Some experts are predicting a "slow-motion recession" where sluggish growth could continue well into 2009.
Surveys from numerous organizations show the public is feeling very negatively about the economy. More than eight in 10 say the economy is getting worse, and four in 10 say their standard of living is declining. Gas prices are driving a lot of this concern, if you'll pardon the expression. Concern about gas prices is so strong that it's a major concern in foreign policy as well.
Tags: 
President Obama said Wednesday there are “no quick fixes” to lower high gas prices and called for a long-term energy strategy that will begin to wean the United States off its dependence on foreign oil.
The speech comes amid growing partisanship over energy policy in Congress and increasing calls to lower gas prices.
Obama, speaking at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., laid out a multi-part plan for reducing U.S. oil imports by one-third over the next decade.
He criticized proposals to lower gas prices as political theater, noting that lawmakers had the same conversations in the summer of 2008 when gas prices were at an all-time high in the United States.
“[Y]ou had a lot of slogans and gimmicks and outraged politicians waving three-point-plans for two-dollar gas — when none of it would really do anything to solve the problem,” Obama said.
Post new comment