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Oil prices slide on US offer to draw from strategic reserves
New York: Oil prices fell yesterday after the US government offered to loan crude from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve to replace lost output. The move came as even as the oil producers cartel Opec said it stood ready to pump extra oil to offset shortages from the scores of facilities put out of action by the storm. Hurricane Katrina has ripped through the Gulf of Mexico, sinking at least 20 oil rigs.

In New York, prices fell 87 cents to end at US$68.94 while London Brent crude firmed 10 cents to $67.67 a barrel, after dropping as low as $65.99. It had hit a peak of $70.85 on Tuesday. Prices had risen close to record levels after it emerged 95 per cent of production in the region had been halted. Royal Dutch Shell said its Mars platform, which pumps 15 per cent of gulf oil output, was damaged, while the Louisana state coast guard said at least 20 oil rigs had sunk or were missing.

Analysts warned that the respite in oil prices could be short-lived as nine refineries with a combined capacity of nearly 2 million bpd were shut and four more were running at reduced rates. According to a Barclays Capital estimate, between 20 and 40 million barrels of refinery throughput could be lost.
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US poverty rate goes up as 1.1 million more join the ranks
Washington D.C, USA: According to a Census Bureau report, 1.1 million more Americans slipped into poverty in 2004, despite robust economic growth last year. The report also stated that household incomes stagnated and earnings fell.

The number of Americans without health insurance rose by 800,000, to 45.8 million.

The Census Bureau's annual report on income, poverty and health insurance sheds light on voter discontent with the economy in the face of seemingly strong economic data. The broad data draw a picture of a labor market still struggling to find its footing, three years after the 2001 recession.

The median household income stood at $44,389 last year, down slightly from the 2003 level of $44,482. But more people going to work for lower earnings propped up that level. A full-time male worker earned a median income of $40,798 last year, down $963 in inflation-adjusted dollars from 2003. Women's median earnings fell $327, to $31,223.

The poverty rate climbed in 2004 to 12.7 percent, from 12.5 percent in 2003 -- the fourth year in a row that poverty has risen. The increase was borne completely by non-Hispanic whites, the only ethnic group that saw its poverty rate rise. The percentage of whites in poverty rose from 8.2 percent in 2003 to 8.6 percent. African Americans saw no change in their poverty rate, which remained at 24.7 percent. The poverty rate for Hispanics remained at 21.9 percent, while Asian Americans' poverty levels dropped by two percentage points, to 9.8 percent.

The percentage without health insurance, 15.7 percent, did not change, but only because the expanding federal insurance programs compensated for a continuing decline in employer-provided health care. Last year, 27.2 percent of the population received medical care through the government, up from 26.6 percent in 2003.

From the start of President Bush's first term in 2001 to 2004, the number of Americans without health insurance increased from 41.2 million to 45.8 million. Last year's uninsured rate was the highest it has been since 1998.

In recent years, a growing chorus of economists and politicians have questioned the veracity of the poverty rates, median income level and number of uninsured. The Census Bureau's own alternative measurements of poverty, which consider regional differences in cost of living, out-of-pocket medical expenses and more sophisticated inflation measures, have consistently indicated that the official poverty level understates the problem.

Conservatives object that the numbers do not capture assistance from food stamps, government insurance programs, housing aid or the earned-income tax credit.
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