Higher oil costs forcing increase in prices of everyday consumer goods

It's no secret that record oil prices are pinching at the pump, but now the high cost of crude also is causing pain in ways shoppers hadn't considered before, from the pro shop to the pretzel aisle.
Petroleum isn't just for power; it's a key ingredient in thousands of consumer products. More than half of a typical 42-gallon barrel is used to yield gasoline and fuel oil; the remainder goes into chemical products such as pharmaceuticals, fertilizers and pesticides, as well as the plastic for creating and packaging goods such as groceries and toiletries.
"Things are going to get worse before they get better," said William Knudson, an agricultural economist at Michigan State University. "We haven't yet seen the full impact of this gasoline pricing. These costs are beginning to spread through the general economy."

Read the article at DetNews.

Dow Chemical raise prices another 25%

Unbelievable....with this 25% increase from Dow, they are raising their prices by 45% total (20% increase took effect this month).

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Dow Chemical Co. announced its second wide-ranging price hikes in less than a month as it attempts to offset sustained record costs for energy and the soaring price of raw materials.
The chemical company announced Tuesday it will raise prices by as much as 25 percent next month, less than three weeks after announcing price increases of up to 20 percent. The first round of price hikes took effect this month.
When Dow raises its prices, it is felt across dozens of industries that manufacture everything from diapers to automobiles.
Dow says it is trying to survive.
"We have to get them back to reinvestment levels where we can continue to build our business and to be there for the future,'' said spokesman Chris Huntley.

Read the article at TheStar.

Tim Russert - One of the best

The political & television world lost a true star yesterday when Tim Russert passed away on the NBC set. The following story is from the Washington Post. I always enjoyed watching Tim on Meet the Press. He will be missed.

Tim Russert, the NBC commentator who revolutionized Sunday morning television and infused journalism with an unrelenting passion for politics, died of a heart attack yesterday.
Russert was recording a "Meet the Press" introduction in an NBC sound booth in Northwest Washington when he collapsed and was taken by ambulance, accompanied by his longtime producer Betsy Fischer, to Sibley Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead soon afterward. He was 58.
The news swept the capital like a shock wave, with colleagues, rivals, President Bush and those vying to succeed him remembering Russert as a superb practitioner of political analysis and an irrepressible son of blue-collar Buffalo who, quite simply, loved the game. His influence was such that an appearance on the top-rated "Meet the Press" could boost or sink a candidate, and when he declared after midnight on May 6 that Barack Obama had wrapped up the Democratic nomination, that was treated as a news event in itself.
Russert wore many hats -- onetime Democratic operative, Washington insider, NBC bureau chief, MSNBC commentator, sports fanatic, committed Roman Catholic, biographer of his father, known as "Big Russ" -- but his greatest legacy was his sustained style of interrogation. Grounded in prodigious research, Russert would press his guests on past statements and contradictions, often for a full hour, spawning legions of imitators.
Friends were stunned by the news. "I just loved him," said Bob Schieffer, host of CBS's "Face the Nation." "When I scooped old Tim, I felt like I'd hit a home run off the best pitcher in the league."

Read the story at the WashingtonPost.

NY Fed chief urges global bank framework

Banks and investment banks whose health is crucial to the global financial system should operate under a unified regulatory framework with “appropriate requirements for capital and liquidity”, according to Timothy Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Writing in Monday’s Financial Times, Mr Geithner, a key US policymaker throughout the credit crisis and one of the main architects of the rescue of Bear Stearns, says that the US Federal Reserve should play a “central role” in the new regulatory framework, working closely with supervisors in the US and round the world.

“At present the Fed has broad responsibility for financial stability not matched by direct authority and the consequences of the actions we have taken in this crisis make it more important that we close that gap,” Mr Geithner says, in an excerpt of a speech to be delivered today at the Economic Club of New York.

Read the article at FT.com