It's still the Economy Stupid!

The Fed held today, balancing increasing signals of a potential economic slow-down against increasing inflationary pressures. One wonders what how this particular situation may affect the calculus:

Oil prices showed little movement early Wednesday as concerns eased about a supply shortage in the United States due to the shutdown of a major pipeline in the state of Alaska.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery was up 2 cents at US$76.33 a barrel in midmorning Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel boatman said Tuesday there were adequate supplies to replace oil lost from the shutdown of the BP Exploration Alaska's Prudhoe Bay field.

I'm left wondering--eek!--much like John Dingell how exactly BP "missed" this over the last number of years.