Thursday, August 7, 2008

Metro Area Incomes Show Impact of Higher Oil Prices

The Bureau of Economic Analysis has released data on 2007 personal income by metro area.

The big story is told in the middle section of the country. Around the Gulf of Mexico, incomes are up - partly because of aid to Katrina-hit areas, but more broadly because of the higher incomes that have accompanied higher oil prices.

These higher oil prices have devastated the Mid-West metro areas around the Great Lakes that live by manufacturing and are linked to the automobile industry or to other products that use energy.

We see a vivid picture of the massive economic shift away from manufacturing and toward energy. The next U.S. President will be the person who can offer hope to the depressed economies of the Mid-West.

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