[CAUT] Is it a good thing... or bad ?

[Richard Brekne]

Hi Folks...

We've all been following the price of oil around the world... and now 
food and a host of  other things that follow extended price increases 
and availability of fuels stuffs. China just imposed a 30 % or so 
increase in gas prices... and many such countries that have artificially 
held fuel prices down are following suit. A few oil producing countries 
in the middle east and South America continue to subsidize gas prices... 
I think Venezuela, Iran, Saudi Arabia have gas prices somewhere around 
50 cents a liter...  but they are few now and perhaps will follow suit 
sooner then later.

Question is ... is this a good thing for the west... and in our case 
piano production in the west... or not ? Increased prices for these 
countries mean increased costs of production which in turn put us in a 
more competitive position again...  An global evening out of production 
costs eventually means a global evening out of cost of living....  Costs 
are also going up in the west.. but not at the same pace.

Any thoughts ?

Cheers
RicB