Word: demanding
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...little relief is in sight. Soaring oil prices, massive amounts of farmland diverted into producing biofuels, and demand from developing countries such as China and India are just some of the factors behind the rising prices worldwide - none of which is easily overcome. U.S. consumers can expect the price of food to rise an additional 5.5% this year, USDA economist Ephraim Leibtag told Congress. "I think the price levels we're at now are not going to go down anytime soon," he added. And that means schools and families may face even tougher times down the road...
...Riots over power shortages, usually a standard summer feature when demand is at its highest, are rocking Pakistan's major cities. In the industrial town of Multan, a recent protest over power outages saw 58 gravely injured and hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to government buildings, factories, utilities and vehicles. If the problems continue it could lead to political instability. "The economy is more urgent than extremism," says an American diplomat in Islamabad...
...essay "Oil Follies," Michael Kinsley notes that if President George W. Bush "had used the political gift certificate he was granted on Sept. 11, 2002," he could have "imposed a $1.50-per-gal. (39¢-per-L) 'War on Terror' tax ... People would have screamed with pain, then started adjusting. Demand would have gone down, and today gas would probably be cheaper" [July 7]. How very clever. But Kinsley had a TIME pulpit in 2001. Why didn't he propose this great idea then? How easy it is to be clever in retrospect - though Kinsley seems less than confident...
...bank Société Générale. Business leaders ranging from Sir Stuart Rose at British retailer Marks & Spencer to Renault's CEO Carlos Ghosn are sounding the alarm. At Burberry, the luxury-goods firm, CEO Angela Ahrendts frets about a combination of rising costs, falling demand and a strong euro that cuts into competitiveness. "There's a perfect storm out there," she says. Many investors would agree: this year, stocks across Europe are down 20% or more, the standard measure of a bear market...
...critical to stave off the so-called secondary effects of inflation and "to neutralize the growing risks to price stability." In plain English, that means he's worried about an inflationary spiral in which manufacturers of industrial and consumer goods raise prices to compensate for higher costs - and workers demand hefty pay increases so they can afford the rising cost of their household purchases. The risk is very real. Soaring prices for oil, raw materials and food have taken a heavy toll on Europe's inflation rate, which hit 4% in June - more than double what it was a year...