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Energy costs are biggest economy threat: surveyPosted by Retirement on: 2005-09-16 12:18:15 in category:
Finance [ Print | Permalink / 0 Comment(s) ] WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lofty energy prices have supplanted terrorism in the eyes of economists as the biggest short-term threat facing the economy, a survey released on Friday showed. The National Association for Business Economics said a survey of 202 of its members found that 30 percent now view energy prices as the biggest risk to growth, up from 11 percent in its last survey in March. In contrast, only 20 percent of the economists surveyed said terrorism was their biggest concern, down from 24 percent in the March survey and well below the 40 percent who cited terrorism as their top worry in August 2004. But over the long haul health care, federal budget deficits and education were seen as the biggest challenges, NABE said. The group said 65 percent of the respondents believed the U.S. Federal Reserve had calibrated monetary policy appropriately, but 30 percent said policy was too easy. Forty-eight percent said interest rates should move up further over the next six months, as opposed to 42 percent who said they should remain steady. The central bank's policy-makers meet on Tuesday and are expected to bump overnight borrowing costs up by a quarter-percentage point for the 11th straight time, taking them to 3.75 percent. Nearly three-quarters of the respondents said fiscal policy was too loose, although the vast majority said the fiscal reins would likely be about right, if not too tight, in two years. Replies received before Hurricane Katrina showed 33 percent expecting the U.S. budget gap to widen, but that figure jumped to 53 percent in the responses that came in after the storm. Congress has already approved $62.3 billion in hurricane assistance and President George W. Bush has told lawmakers to expect additional requests. Some members of Congress have said the price tag could reach $200 billion, exceeding the cost of the Iraq war. Homepage Please support are sponsors. To design you custom retirement plan. http://www.retirement-plan.us For planing a IRA rollovers. http://www.ira-rollover.us Professional asset allocation and the wonders it can do. http://www.asset-allocation.us Professional money management: National ranked performance. http://www.roth-ira.us Managers selected to fit your needs. http://www.money-managers.us |
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