A Tax By Any Other Name

My trip last week to Las Vegas and back entailed gasoline purchases of up to $3.50 a gallon. Two weeks ago I was paying around $2.85. I'm no economist but it seems to me Washington's propensity to save people from themselves amounts to a tax on the rest of us as our currency tanks. The WSJ seems inclined to agree:

Speculators are adding to this commodity boom, betting that the Fed has thrown price stability to the wind in order to ease U.S. housing and credit woes. The problem is that dollar weakness is making both of these problems worse. The flight from the dollar has made U.S.-based investments less attractive, at a time when the U.S. financial system urgently needs to raise capital. And the commodity boom is translating into higher food and energy prices that are robbing American consumers of discretionary income. In the name of avoiding a recession, reckless monetary policy has made one more likely.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Mar 17, 2008