Hal, the one to watch is gasoline futures; right now they are hovering around mid-October’s prices but they are not in disequilibrium. As of this morning they are trading at around $1.79/gallon, and they’ve been around that level (give or take about 5 cents) since the start of the year. Not time to panic or hoard. (If oil futures go above $70 this time, however, I expect they will stay there for a while, not briefly flirt with that level as before. I certainly could be wrong.)
Chris, here’s one question for the pandering state treasurer.