ENERGY — RECORD OIL PRICES HELP FUEL ECONOMIC DOWNTURN: Yesterday, crude oil reached $102 a barrel, a record high, as trading was spurred by “jitters before OPEC’s crude production meeting next week.” Those high prices are reaching consumers at the pump, where gasoline “could approach $4 a gallon by spring.” “The effect of high oil prices today could be the difference between having a recession and not having a recession,” said Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff. Americans face skyrocketing prices at the pump even as oil companies such as ExxonMobil reaped record profits last year. The House is expected to vote on a renewable tax package — perhaps as early as today — that would “eliminate roughly $18 billion” in tax breaks for Big Oil “and use the savings to fund tax credits and other incentives for renewable energy.” In December, conservatives stripped a similar tax package from the 2007 energy bill after Bush threatened a veto.

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