The economy right now is "really a tale of two cities," Peter Gaw, president of CIT Energy, tells Elliott Forrest, the Peabody Award-winning broadcaster and producer, in a new podcast interview. Gaw recently joined CIT Energy in Houston in investment banking the E&P and power sector. He was previously in energy investment banking for ABN Amro Bank. "You’ve got the city of New York, which is going through a more challenging period with the financial markets, and you have a city like Houston, which is booming in the oil business. So the two impact each other," Gaw says. Will oil prices remain high? "I’ve been doing this for 25 years in this business and anyone who thinks the price of oil or the price of energy is going to stay up is usually proven wrong on a consistent basis. “So as we look at where we’re investing and where we’re supporting our clients in the middle market we’re very careful to sensitize how they are impacted on both a recession or a decrease in oil prices. We look at the marketplace right now. It’s a pretty resilient marketplace as we see in the oil and gas business. But it can change very quickly. " However, his forecast is for continued high prices. "It’s a pretty positive picture for the next 12 months in the energy space and I think we are going to continue to see these higher energy prices." The full podcast and a transcript are available at http://podcasts.cit.com. -- Nissa Darbonne, Executive Editor, Oil and Gas Investor, A&D Watch, Oil and Gas Investor This Week, www.OilandGasInvestor.com; ndarbonne@hartenergy.com