Exactly. Our economy is doing better than it hasin four or five years, and some people still complain. To them I say - get a job.

Don't forget 5% (and falling) unemployment, inflation at 2.1% (not counting oil, which would push it to more like 3%), and rising wages. In fact, all of the hype over oil is false too, as I point out here

Can't wait to see next quarter's numbers, tho, particularly for companies that can't really pass along their higher energy/fuel costs to unwitting consumers.

That's just it though, Dawn. The last quarter already included some of the highest energy prices in US history (we're still not as bad as 1980 - adjusted for inflation), and it dragged things down some, but not enough to be negative. Yet another indicator about how strong the economy really is.

Projections are that fuel prices will begin to drop again this fall. How much? I don't know.

As for passing along fuel costs to consumers, well, *every* company does that in one way or another. If they don't raise prices then they make the package smaller or some similar trick. They've already built the increased fuel costs into their projections.

Now and then a careless editor lets an oopsie re: good-economy news slip through: it'll appear buried in pages 20-32 under a 12-point head.