GAS PRICES CONTINUE TO RISE TO $4 USD PER GALLON

From the AP.

Average gas pump prices across the country rose to within a dime of $4 a gallon Friday, as weather-related refinery outages tightened supplies and pushed up prices.

The national average increased 2 cents, to nearly $3.91 a gallon for regular gasoline. That's the highest level since July 31, 2008. Three years ago, as oil was on its way to a record $147 a barrel, the average price of gas was $3.61 on April 29. It hit $3.90 on May 24 and peaked at $4.11 on July 17 before heading down again.

[SNIP]

Economic data released Friday show gas prices are impacting consumer spending patterns. The Commerce Department reported that personal income rose 0.5 percent and consumer spending was up 0.6 percent in March.

"The increase in ... spending was swallowed up by higher gasoline and food prices," said IHS Global Insight economist Chris Christopher. "This report is good news since it shows that consumers are plowing ahead despite rising gasoline and food prices. The bad news is that consumer spending adjusted for inflation has lost the momentum it had in the last quarter of 2010," he said.

Some economists think lower gas prices could encourage consumer spending in other areas, although the high unemployment rate will keep the economic recovery in low gear this year.

How these rising prices will impact the anime conventions this summer is still unknown. 

U.S. DOLLAR CONTINUES TO SLIDE

From Bloomberg News.

“We’re all reacting to the numbers and looking for sustainable growth,” said Firas Askari, head currency trader in Toronto at Bank of Montreal. “The dollar weakness is a trend that’s hard to break,” he said. “The momentum we did seem to be having in the U.S. economy seems to be hitting some headwinds. Best case scenario: the U.S. economy is lukewarm.”

The dollar weakened against 10 of 16 major peers, losing at least 0.7 percent versus the yen and South Korean won. It rebounded after slumping as much as 0.6 percent to $1.4791 against the euro and breaching $1.48 for the first time since December 2009.

U.S. government securities headed for their biggest monthly gain since August as investors reduced bets that policy makers will raise interest rates by early next year. Six-month bill rates hit a record low.

 Remember the US Dollar / Japanese Yen exchange rate is one of the key dynamics that impact the anime industry in both the U.S. and Japan. When Robotech first came on the air in 1985 $1 USD = Y240 JPY now in 2011 1 USD = Y81 in other words the dollar has lost 2/3 of its value.

U.S. DOLLAR DELCINES, OIL RISES AFTER FED CHAIRMAN SPEECH

From Reuters.com

                       Global stocks rallied and the U.S. dollar slid to a three-year low against major  
                       currencies on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve signaled itwould retain 
                       extensive support for the U.S. economy.

 Wall Street advanced broadly and oil rose after the Fed
said in a statement it believed the recovery was proceeding at
a moderate pace and pledged to keep interest rates, now near
zero, extraordinarily low for "an extended period."

 The Nasdaq surged to a 10-year high and gold rose to a
record above $1,525 an ounce after Fed chairman Ben Bernanke
reiterated the Fed's stance that inflation was a transitory
problem related largely to commodity price pressures.

Translation: Gas prices continue to go up while it will become more expensive for U.S. Companies to acquire amine from Japan.

GAS PRICES RISE FOR 35 STRAIGHT DAYS

From Yahoo News.

Gas pump prices have climbed for 35 straight days even though industry surveys show Americans have started to drive less.

The national average rose by a penny to hit $3.87 per gallon on Tuesday, more than a dollar higher than it was last year. Experts say prices should keep rising for the next few weeks before weaker consumer demand forces prices to drop. "We're going to see prices keep bumping up for three, maybe four weeks," energy analyst Jim Ritterbusch said. Eventually less travel will take its toll, Ritterbusch said.

"They're going to cut back on spending, and that will push gas prices down," he said. "All that should kick in by June."

Retail gasoline prices have become a growing burden for consumers this year. They've risen 32.2 cents per gallon since March 22 and are averaging above $4 per gallon in California, New York, Michigan, Illinois, Connecticut, Washington D.C., Alaska and Hawaii.

35 straight days with prices going up for the next month.

REALLY BUSY

Where are you Kev? 

Really busy with work right now so no blogging for the time being.

WHAT DOES THE EASTER BUNNY DO ON THE OTHER 364 DAYS OF THE YEAR?

ANIMECONS.COM SITE REDESIGN

AnimeCons.com, the internet's best website devoted to convention news, has given itself a compete makeover. You can view the new website here.

If your looking for a easy way to find the anime convention nearest to you, AnimeCons.com is your best bet.

GAS PRICES KILLING SPRING BREAK

Over the past few weeks I've been talking about how rising gas prices would affect peoples behavior. I mentioned that if people are paying $70-100 USD to fill up their cars something got to give.

Something is now giving.

With gas prices above $4 in some states, Americans are canceling spring break plans and rethinking summer vacation, and some tourist destinations are offering gas vouchers of as much as $50 to talk people out of giving up and staying home.

At Mount Rushmore, only about 37,000 people decided in March that seeing the four granite-etched presidential sculptures was worth the trip, down from about 43,000 a year before.

At the Grand Canyon, a marketing executive for one company that offers sweeping helicopter vistas says 10 percent fewer people than last year are driving up and booking tours. The company is counting on international tourists to make up the rest.

And along the Rhode Island coast, where 800,000 people a year show up to gawk at the opulence of Gilded Age mansions, it's even worse - business is off 30 percent just since the beginning of March.

Memorial Day is still five weeks away, and summer doesn't officially start for two months. This year, anxiety over high gas prices - and whether the family vacation will bust the family budget - has come early.

"I can't go anywhere because I can't afford it," said Greg Sensing, who works in admissions for the University of Maryland. "It's kind of nice to take a road trip, to get in the car, you see the country, and now why bother doing it?"

 Anime conventions cant offer gas vouchers and the rely on people driving into thier show.We have major attractions down 10% in attendance what will happen to the larger anime conventions this summer?

CHINA ROBOTECH TRADE PAPERBACK VIDEO

Sichuan Xinhua Winshare Chainstore Co. Ltd. has produced a video for the Robotech Trade Paperback Comics for the China market.

$6 USD PER GALLON GAS BY SUMMER?

This comes from CNBC.

A dollar plumbing three-year lows is hitting Americans squarely in the gas tank, and one economist thinks it could drive prices as high as $6 a gallon or more by summertime under the right conditions.

With the greenback coming under increased pressure from Federal Reserve policies and investor appetite for more risk, there seems little direction but up for commodity prices, in particular energy and metals.

Weakness in the US currency feeds upward pressure on commodities, which are priced in dollars and thus come at a discount on the foreign markets.

One result has been a surge higher in gasoline prices to nearly $4 a gallon before the summer driving season even starts, a trend that economists say will be aggravated as demand increases and the summer storm season threatens to disrupt oil supplies.

"All we have to have is a couple badly placed hurricanes which could constrain some of the refinery output capacity in some key locations," says Richard Hastings, strategist at Global Hunter Securities in Charlotte, N.C. "If you get weakness in the dollar concurrent with the strong driving season concurrent with the impact of one or two hurricanes in the wrong place, prices could go up in a quasi-exponential manner."

 [snip]

Hastings sees gasoline having "no problem" getting to $6.50 a gallon over the summer after increased demand and storm disruptions come into play.

The overwhelming majority of anime fans drive to their local conventions. Many of them often drive long distances (over 2 hours) to get to the conventions. With gas now hitting $4 USD per gallon in most parts of the country well before the summer driving season and could easily hit $5 USD per gallon before summers over could really make the summer convention season interesting.

High gas prices act as a tax if people are going to have to spend $70-80 USD to fill up a compact car gas tank its less money they have to spend on cons and anime products.

ROBOTECH WILDSTORM COMICS TRADE PAPERBACKS ON SALE IN CHINA!

 

The Winshare Cover for Love and War

The Robotech.com website is reporting that Sichuan Xinhua Winshare Chainstore Co., Ltd is to release all of DC Comics' Robotech adventures in new trade paperbacks for the 20th anniversary of Robotech's debut in China! Each of these trade have been carefully supervised by Harmony Gold and the Robotech Union China for accuracy and quality.  Also each of the trade paperbacks will have new supplemental material that has never been seen before.


CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THESE TRADE PAPERBACKS FROM ROBOTECH.COM

JAPAN MULLS ELECTRICITY HIKES

From Kyodo News

The government is considering increasing electricity charges to help cover damages payments to people who have suffered losses on the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant of Tokyo Electric Power Co., government sources said Tuesday.

It is planning to increase the tax on electricity source development, which is collected from consumers as part of electricity charges, and use the hike for providing a portion of the damages payments that TEPCO may not be able to shoulder, they said.

Within the government and the electric utility industry, however, there are some cautious views about the planned measure that will effectively force all the Japanese people to share the burden of damages payments.

Nearly all of anime, including 2D has a digital component to it (what do you think powers all of those computers they use at the studios). If the cost to power anime studios equipment rises then that can add significantly to production costs. If the cost of electricity rises it also hits the artists as well as they still have to pay their own electricity bills. So in many ways its a double whammy.

- The cost to make anime goes up.
- Workers at he studios get hit with what looks like a "tax" that lowers their disposable income.

That is not a good thing.