I think we'll see price increases across the board. When oil increases, fuel increases and energy costs increase. Consumers will pay for increases in manufacturers costs as well as for increased costs is shipping. Building materials are skyrocketing because of the old supply and demand tricks; the Middle East is getting a lot of those materials but, strangely, China is the biggest importer at this time. We are not likely to see price reductions anywhere even if energy costs reduce.
Consider the sugar "shortage" that was claimed to exist twenty five or so years ago. That year, farmers here were paid up to sixty-four dollars a ton for sugar cane, and everything containing sugar increased exponentially. The following year, the price of sugar cane was back down, but there was no corresponding decrease in anything containing sugar. I suspect that we are, and will always be, victims of Wall Street manipulation.
