The Wednesday Wall Street Journal was particularly interesting. The front-page had an article about the massive vacancies in office buildings. Supposedly, a potential crisis has been averted because, among other things, landlords have been more successful in the locking-in tenants and because the developers are no longer depending on the banks, so can negotiate lower rents. These explanations leave something to be desired.
Another story describes the growing gap between high wage and low-wage workers. A third describes two employees of Halliburton who seemed to be the ones that got the company locked into its unfortunate contract for getting fuel from Kuwait. Page two since then newly discovered oil and natural gas reserves are rapidly falling. Exploration costs are exceeding the value of newly discovered reserves. Next to this article is the story about the rise in steel prices. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University michael at ecst.csuchico.edu Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901
