“We've been saying for some time that if oil hits $70 a barrel, that puts the economy at a tipping point where if there were some other serious problems, we could fall into recession, ... they would leave the economy vulnerable to some other shock that might come along.”
“The biggest impact clearly is local, not national. If New Orleans suffers a fair amount of damage to hotels and casinos, people may not go there for a while because who wants to go if the place is a mess?”
“It's hard to imagine gas prices at $3 a gallon even a few months ago. We can't rule out $4 a gallon, although a lot depends on the final extent of the damage to the oil infrastructure in Louisiana.”
“Right now, given the information that we've got, we've lowered our second-half projection [on economic growth] to 4%, essentially shaving off half a point.”
“Huge amounts of grain from the Midwest get shipped out through New Orleans. If grain cannot get out through New Orleans, it could be lost if warehouses are flooded or ports close and barges are stuck in Mississippi. That could have a negative impact on farm income. It would be more costly to truck it to other locations.”
