Experts Disagree on Why Oil Prices Go Up

Writing for the San Francisco Chronicle,, Kathleen Pender quoted two widely divergent viewpoints on oil prices. Some experts, including a team from Goldman Sachs, point to the increasing world demand, at a time when there is little excess production capacity, as a factor that will keep oil prices in the $50 to $105 per barrel range for years to come. But a separate group of experts says that if it were not for speculators, that oil would still be trading in a $30-40 per barrel range.

Health Care and your Small Business

The Small Business Admiminstration fielded questions via the web on Thursday August 25th, including explanations of Health Service Accounts (HSA's). There is also discussion about a bill awaiting passage by the senate that would allow small business owners to leverage their numbers and achieve better insurance rates, on a regional or national basis.

Savings Rate Hits Zero in June

The savings rate for June 2005 hit zero, for only the second time since 1959, when the Commerce Department began tracking savings by consumers. "[Rising home values] are making people feel they don't need to save," Lakshman Achuthan, managing director of the Economic Cycle Research Institute, told CNN Money. While high levels of consumer spending are helping drive the economy now, if real estate prices start to decline, it will be bad for the economy, as consumers run out of home equity they can tap.

Atkins Nutritionals Files for Bankruptcy

Privately owned Atkins Nutritionals Inc. has filed for bankruptcy, as the low carbohydrate diet fad has continued to fizzle, impacting the company's sales. The latest figures show only 2.2 percent of consumers are following a low carbohydrate diet, down from 9 percent at the height of the craze, the "London Times" reported. Founder Dr. Atkins, who died in April 2003, received the National Health Foundation award in 1985. The diet has never been endorsed by the American Medical Association, which says it lacks scientific basis, and risks coronoray artery disease.