Cost of oil leads agenda in U.S.-China talks

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Top finance officials from the United States and China pledged greater cooperation Tuesday on a range of economic issues from dealing with soaring energy prices to coping with the global shocks from America’s subprime mortgage crisis.
However, it was clear that the fourth round of high-level economic talks would leave both nations far apart on a number of contentious subjects from U.S. unhappiness over the slow pace of China’s economic reforms to Chinese concerns about increasing protectionist sentiments in the United States.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson hoped that the two days of talks will produce enough results to persuade the next administration to continue the meetings. It was Paulson’s brainchild to start the twice-a-year discussions in 2006.

When gas stations run out of gas

Don't be surprised to see more filling stations with empty pumps. But don't panic either. There isn't a gasoline shortage like there was in the 1970s.
What's happening is that filling stations have had their margins squeezed. Credit-card companies charge by the dollar, pushing up costs per gallon that filling stations pay to work with banks. And forget about sneaking in a few pennies' worth of profit. Consumers are bargain-shopping like never before. The upshot: Some filling stations either can't stay in business or are just barely hanging on.
Plenty of filling stations have already gone under. Last year, 3,184 of the nation's 164,292 gasoline stations closed their doors and went out of business, the biggest drop in five years, according to National Petroleum News. In the mid-1990s, there were more than 200,000 stations in the U.S. Experts think there are more closures to come.