Wall Street declines on 1st day of 3rd quarter
NEW YORK - Wall Street extended its losses in a volatile session Tuesday on another jump in oil prices and a report that showed U.S. manufacturers remain under duress. The Dow Jones industrials skidded nearly 150 points, and Treasury prices rose as investors sought a safer place for their money.

Inflation flare-up mars factory rebound
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. factory output expanded in June for the first time in five months, but inflation pressures soared to their highest since the stagflation-ravaged 1970s, according to a report that highlighted the bind facing policy-makers.

America’s Shrinking Groceries
American supermarkets are epics of excess: it often seems like every item in the store comes in a “Jumbo” size or has “Bonus!” splashed across the label. But is it possible that the amount of food Americans are buying is, in fact… shrinking? Well, yes. Soaring commodity and fuel prices are driving up costs for manufacturers; faced with a choice between raising prices (which consumers would surely notice) or quietly putting fewer ounces in the bag, carton or cup (which they generally don’t) manufacturers are choosing the latter.

Service lets drivers lock in gasoline prices
MyGallons.com allows drivers to fill up their tanks sometime in the future but at current prices, using a debit-like card which banks gallons rather than dollars.

How to stop the Great Crash of ‘08 (by Spengler )
The oil price has doubled in the past year because the US Federal Reserve panicked over risks to the over-leveraged financial system and flooded markets with excess liquidity. The world is willing to pay arbitrarily high prices to hedge against inflation, but the cost of inflation hedges drags down the world economy. Last week’s spike in commodity prices and swoon in global stock markets points the way to a deep and prolonged fall in economic activity. Breaking out of the death spiral still is possible. With mixed emotions, I propose a simple solution. In fact, a crash would not be an altogether bad thing for the United States.
Click through for Spengler’s solution.  It’s pretty drastic.