Reply #9: Washed-Up Has-Been Partisan Hack Spews Absolute Shit [View All]

[UpInArms]

Oil prices to hurt, but not like 1970s - Greenspan

http://today.reuters.com/PrinterFriendlyPopup.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=uri:2005-10-18T004854Z_01_N17261780_RTRIDST_0_ECONOMY-GREENSPAN.XML

WASHINGTON, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Skyrocketing energy prices will weigh on global growth but will likely exact a much smaller toll than surging oil prices did in the 1970s, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Monday.

"Although the global economic expansion appears to have been on a reasonably firm path through the summer months, the recent surge in energy prices will undoubtedly be a drag from now on," Greenspan said in remarks prepared for delivery in Tokyo to a group of Japanese businessman on Tuesday morning local time.

"The effect of the current surge in oil prices, though noticeable, is likely to prove significantly less consequential to economic growth and inflation than the surge in the 1970s," he said.

Greenspan noted that oil prices remained below their inflation-adjusted peak of 1981 and said the world's economy had grown more energy-efficient in recent decades.

A text of his speech, which did not address the outlook for U.S. monetary policy, was made available in Washington.

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But, as he has in the past, Greenspan said market prices were providing the signals that could shift economic behavior in a way that would bring better balance to supply and demand.

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