Reply #10: Yes, I notice they make similar claims in nearly every article regarding

[54anickel]

the current run up in the price of oil. That's one of the great things about stats. You can use them, somewhat out of context to make nearly any case you want. Business stats has been one of my favorite studies! What did the rest of the global economy look like then compared to now though? Real income, discretionary spending, unemployment, GDP, deficits, etc, etc.

From the original article posted, they hint at such differences (pointing more to the different political situation), but I have yet to see an article the covers the subject more deeply.

Adjusting for inflation, the price of oil remains far below a 1981 peak, when the level was equivalent to more than $72 a barrel in today's dollars, said John C. Felmy, chief economist at the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group based in Washington.

But higher prices have rippled around the globe, as forecasters from Wall Street to Brussels to Seoul trim economic growth estimates.

"Europe is looking pretty fragile right now anyway, so this oil price shock comes at a bad time," said Jonathan Hoffman, chief European economist at Royal Bank of Scotland Financial Markets, according to an Associated Press report. "We are in a different world than what we used to be. . . . Who knows what al Qaeda is doing in Saudi Arabia?"