Shortages

The technology explosion is sucking up helium supplies at dizzying rates. U.S. helium demand is up more than 80% in the past two decades, and is growing at more than 20% annually in developing regions such as Asia. "We've not seen the supply and demand at this imbalance in the past. We're running on the edge of the supply-demand curve," says Jane Hoffman, global helium director for Praxair Inc.

More than two years after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is suffering from an acute shortage of housing that has nearly doubled the cost of rental units in the city, threatening the recovery of the region and the well-being of many residents who decided to return against the odds. Before the storm, more than half of the city%u2019s population rented housing. Yet official attention to help revive the shattered rental home and apartment market has been scant. In some core middle- and lower-income areas, blighted dwellings stretch for blocks on end, and the city has been slow to come up with ideas...

To understand the charge that comes from a papal visit, look no further than Dan Tuite, a 24-year-old seminarian from Staten Island. He was 12 in 1995, the last time a pope %u2014 teasingly called %u201Cthe big boss%u201D by one professor, the Rev. Gerard F. Rafferty %u2014 visited the archdiocese. Mr. Tuite glimpsed the white speck that was John Paul II from the back of the multitudes at Central Park and felt %u201Cthe church%u2019s greatness in his physical presence.%u201D %u201CThat stirred my vocation,%u201D he said. %u201CIt%u2019s because of a pope I%u2019m here, really.%u201D People here...

You've heard the reasons for high oil prices: instability in the Middle East, booming demand in China and India, the sagging dollar. Now add another one to the list: Engineers. The world doesn't have enough of them. From Alberta to Azerbaijan, the fervent hunt for new reserves of oil and natural gas is running up against a shortage of experienced oil patch professionals. "We anticipate a 10 to 15% shortfall" in the number of veteran engineers and project managers needed to lead the search for new energy supplies, says Candida Scott, director of cost research at Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

Is the world headed for a food crisis? India, Mexico and Yemen have seen food riots this year. Argentines boycotted tomatoes during the country's recent presidential elections when the vegetable became more expensive than meat; and in Italy, shoppers organized a one-day boycott of pasta to protest rising prices. In late October, the Russian government, hoping to ease tensions ahead of parliamentary elections early next year, announced a price freeze for milk, bread and other foods through the end of January. What's the cause for these shortages and price hikes? Expensive oil, for the most part.