Climbing oil prices expected to hit hard

This time, the rise in global oil prices is likely to do some damage to the U.S. economy.
That’s the view of an increasing number of economists who are beginning to reduce their growth forecasts for the third and fourth quarters. Unlike the temporary surge of 2004, which landed the economy in what Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan described as a “soft patch,” oil and gasoline prices have risen enough to do more lasting harm, they say.