With gasoline prices going up, Diane Sawyer worries they will continue to rise. With stock prices going up, the same Sawyer worries they will experience a crash of historic proportions.
Sawyer's guest on Good Morning America today at 7:15 AM EDT was Mellody Hobson, a GMA financial contributor. Here's how Sawyer kicked things off.
GMA CO-HOST DIANE SAWYER: Will runaway gas prices keep soaring, and did you know that the stock market has hit a milestone reminiscent of what happened before the big Crash? Let's start with gasoline prices. On Monday the average price of gasoline hit $3.05 per gallon, just two cents less than the record. . . Is this going to keep happening, keep going up?
GMA FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTOR MELLODY HOBSON [trying to calm Diane down]: Well, gas prices are basically a story of supply and demand. Demand has been consistent and very strong. Supply has been interrupted because about a dozen refineries around the world have had problems. It's just basically a case of bad luck, all at the same time. That's decreased supply and that has led to prices being up. . . But before anyone panics, I would say, calm down. We've had a one time case of bad luck here, even with the wildcard of the Middle East out there. I would suspect things will settle down from here and even thought we're entering the peak driving season with American families taking their vacations, I don' think we'll see a lot more in terms of prices rising from here.
SAWYER: OK, but what about the stock market? Even with the rising gas prices the stock market is still going crazy, and as we said 1929 was the big crash, and this is reminiscent of what happened before that.
After Hobson expressed concerns about the market, describing it as having defied gravity, Sawyer was quick to draw a gloomy inference: "So once again, Mellody says it cannot go on forever. Beware, and be aware out there."
Oddly, though Sawyer twice alluded to the current market exhibiting behavior "reminiscent" of the Big Crash of 1929, neither she nor Hobson ever told us what that behavior is.
Meanwhile, what would explain Sawyer's predilection to imagine the worst: gas prices continuing to rise, stock markets crashing? Do you think she's be so gloomy if a Dem were in the White House?
Contact Mark at mark@gunhill.net
