Blog: www.kgmb9.com/howard

Video Headline: Crisis at a Glance

Crank up the panic meter! It's time for another fibrillating episode of Crisis-at-a-Glance, in which we summarize the scary economic stories from the mainland. I'm personally a little unnerved by my reading of mainland financial news reports on the new surge in crude oil prices. What's unnerving is that none of the explanations make any sense; it's clear to me the analysts haven't the vaguest idea why oil prices are rising even faster. Here's another development that economists confidentally got wrong -- April pending home sales rose to 87% of year-before levels and the best raw number since October -- apparently there's bargainhunting going on in some depressed markets. And finally, this is not bad economic news but you might argue it's bad social news -- McDonald's same-store sales are up 4% in America, up 8% in Europe. So here's a shout-out to fattening Frenchmen -- avoirdupois! This concludes another mindbreaking edition of Crisis at a Glance -- crisis not good in Hawaii.

Other Business Headlines:

Just in from the Middle East -- the nation that produces 10% of the world oil supply is proposing a meeting to review oil prices. Saudi Arabia suggests that producers, refiners, retailers AND consumers be invited to the meeting.

Mainland airlines seem to be hiking fares again, 20 dollars on most routes. American started it, Continental matched but then rescinded, and now United and Delta are matching. I'll watch it to see if it sticks or not.

Hawaiian Airlines is hiking some of its fuel surcharges again. It's adding another 20 dollars each way on all flights to the mainland, Tahiti and Pago Pago. This still doesn't cover actual all the increases in actual fuel costs.

Delta and Northwest just found out that merging will be harder than they thought. A congressman is asking the Justice Department to block the merger on anti-competitive grounds. But it's not just any congressman -- it's Jim Oberstar, chairman of the House Transportation Committee.

The Kona coffee crop could be 20% bigger this year, after a leaner season just ended. Growers reported at the weekend meeting of the Hawaii Coffee Association that there has been more rain and more flowerings. And pH tests suggest no damage from the vog.

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