Not just attitude...Priori2ude!

We personally know people who have lost their homes due to the horrible economy and terrible real estate situation. This would have been my family if we hadn't had some reserves to fall back on. My husband hasn't had a job in over five months, and I consider my family (still in our home)as being lucky.
What nobody in the government wants to tell us is that oil is a finite resource, and there comes a point in time where it becomes more expensive to extract from the earth than the resulting product is actually worth. The entire earth is actually running out of oil (we are passing "peak capacity" and on the downward slope.)
America's oil fields are actually well on the downward slope, and we have no more "reserves." That's why we have to import so much of our oil.
Our entire American middle class way of life (suburbia, commuting to work, having to drive to shopping areas because they aren't located where our housing is)is based entirely on plentiful supplies of cheap oil. So, naturally, as the oil runs out, and the price of it escalates, our happy, suburban way of life is imploding.
James Howard Kunstler has written extensively on this topic. Some people think he's way off base, and that our society won't collapse in as large a way as he describes, but I find that a lot of what he says makes perfect sense.
I might be able to commute to work on my horse, if the gas crunch gets so bad that it is rationed. We could just build a little stable in the parking lot! (Seriously, a very fit horse might be able to go fifty miles in a day, but only one way. You'd probably have to take another horse for the ride home. And it would take so long to make the ride that you wouldn't have any time to work!)

When I first started driving before Clinton left office, gas was .89 a gal. I miss that so much!

I think it is Bush's fault. The economy has never been so bad in such a long time and gas prices have NEVER been so high except under Bush. And it's only getting worse and worse. I'm not saying he's directly responsible for the gas prices, but I think he's been running this country and its economy into the ground. Clinton wasn't the best president, but the economy was so much better when he was in office. I've heard it said that gas prices were around $1.50 before Bush took office. Now it's 2 1/2 times that, and nearing triple that. I don't ever recall prices fluctuating the way they have been recently. Honestly, I feel sorry for whomever has to be president after Bush because they have got a really fracked up mess to clean up and no matter how well they preside, they'll look bad only because of having to clean up that mess. And you have to admit, it IS scary having a president in office who says the dumb stuff he does. He makes up words because he can't think for himself. Have you ever seen him give a speech? He's fine as long as he has a script to read from because it was written by his speech writers who are enormously more eloquent than he is. But when it comes time for him to answer questions on the fly, he showcases his own idiocy by making up words, flubbing sentences, and generally not knowing what the hell to say.

Hey! It's not Bush's fault.... It's been a long time knowing that OPEC is behind jacking up the oil price, causing ripple effects on other things like higher cost of food prices because of the higher cost of gasoline to transport foods. WE HAVE OUR OWN OIL, why we couldn't use them???? It's the government, not the president, that controls our oil.... I agree with both meat and priori2ude on our economy crisis. Remember the gasoline crisis when Jimmy Carter was in the office? He's a democrat... Just keep Bush out.

My parent's store/gas station is the only one really up here (aside from Doyals 8 miles down the road heading back to town), but for the lake we're the only thing. Our prices are high because of the gas company; what they charge both in product and 'shipping' it here. I don't care for the delivery guy. I still haven't forgiven him for delivering gas before 7am a few weeks ago. The store wasn't even open, yet he delivered...and I woke up to the rumbling of his evil diesel engine. So annoying!!!

Also, becaues the realestate market is so crappy right now, my parents decided to take the cg off the market and have small hope to sell when the economy, etc... markets get better. The good people who were interested in buying this place (ie: not the psychos) couldn't find acceptable loans/financing/whatever.

As I was walking to my car after class today, I passed a van with a bumper sticker that said, "Bush's Legacy: Spare no child a dime" erm...something like that. :p

You'd loath a town here called Clovis. Clovis and the north part of Fresno are littered with H1-3 Hummers. My best friend and I play a game much like slug bug, except when you see a Hummer drive by, whoever spots it first slaps the other in the arm real hard and declares, "Piece of Shit!" or "(enter color) Turd!" ie: "There goes a Blue Turd!" XD

Yeah, I know that in parts of the country like California, the prices were already $4 and then some--have been for a while now. I saw a story on the news where there's one town somewhere on the coast of Cali where there's nothing for 40 miles either way and there's only one gas station there. They charge more than $5, but apparently, it's not price gouging because it costs THEM so much to get the gas (because of their remote-ish location) so they have to price it higher to their customers. I have a neighbor that still owns a Hummer and I don't know how he can morally and financially justify having that behemoth these days. I think he should be ashamed, but then, I don't really like him anyway.

And yes, these are sad times when a gallon of gas costs the same or more than a gallon of milk. The housing industry sucks (I'm really glad Don & I aren't planning to move any time soon), and I did hear about people pawning their stuff to make ends meet. That's really really sad.

Sorry about your friends who have to declare bankruptcy with a child and another on the way. Hope they can get by alright.

I do think America is SO OVER Bush right now, though I'm not sure they're totally over republicans. I think McCain is going to be a strong contender against whoever ends up being the democratic candidate--especially if it somehow ends up being Billary. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Here in Cali, more so in my area, prices are hovering around $4/gal. I usually fill my tank up at the gas station right across the street from my school (very convenient) and I think I paid...hmmm...I think it was $3.69(??) two weeks ago. ((Was sick so haven't been driving for two weeks)).

It really depends upond which gas stations you go to. Stations like Shell and Chevron are usually devoid of cars (unless those drivers are gluttens for abuse), but one of the most popular station is Arco, known to be a bit cheaper than others. I go to Valero..erm, something like, mostly because I can use my cc. If it weren't for financial aid, I wouldn't be able to afford to drive to school.

Food's expensive, gas is expensive. People are losing their homes, forced to sell off things of value/family heirlooms just to have money to pay for the food or gas. There was a story on the news a few days ago, where some of the local pawn shops were being interviewed. An owner of one of them had never had so much business before this crunch. People are selling off wedding bands, electronics (ie: tvs), tools of all kinds, their grandmother's jewelry, etc... just to make ends meet.

One of my friends is looking at bankruptcy (they have a young daughter [my goddaughter] and a son who is due in Sept). They've been trying to sell their gas burning POS SUV for months with no bites.

Eh, sorry. Used your blog to rant a bit. Bush does suck. I think most of America is about done with republicans, don't you think?

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