More energy coverage, please

Tom Dorsey of the Louisville Courier-Journal writes Wednesday that he’d like to see more coverage of rising energy prices, particularly on television.

Dorsey writes, “Of course, the economy is really so complex that even economists don’t fully understand it. You can’t expect TV news stories that run 30 to 60 seconds to explain it, but they could answer some of the obvious questions people have that politicians don’t really discuss.

“Everybody is talking about gas prices because the media tell us every day how much more the price of a barrel of oil shot up that day. Sure enough, the price of gas often jumps 20 or 30 cents the next day. But why does oil that won’t reach the pump for another month or more seem to make the price at your neighborhood pump go up instantly? The newscasts don’t explain.

“Newscasts do report that the price of food, and just about everything else, is being driven up by the cost of oil. People know that when they reach for an item at the grocery that’s 60 cents higher than last week. But they don’t know the total effect. Why not take the grocery lists for an average family or two and show how much prices have gone up for items on those lists compared to six months ago?

“Why not a series on various businesses and how price hikes have affected them and you? Businesses obviously can’t pass along all the price increases. People just won’t pay them. When and how will this push and shove result in larger unseen trends, like people being laid off?”

Read more here.