Economist. Dresdner
Kleinwort Wasserstein, an investment bank, reckons that half a
percentage point could be knocked off American growth in 2006, and 0.7
added to the inflation rate, if oil remains above $40 a barrel. (NOTE: this estimate indicates that the decline in growth will cost the US $50 billion. This
is on top of the ~$200 million a day we pay as a terrorism tax on oil,
which is out of ~$800 million the world pays daily. This is directly
due to the war in Iraq. The GG sabotage in Iraq established the climate
of fear that currently permeates the market. Additionally, it is also
taking ~ 700,000 barrels a day of production off of the market, over
what would be exported in a prewar steady state). [John Robb's Weblog]