Fuel prices drive tough adjustments

You know times are tough when the governor of Michigan, the top executive in the state that put the nation on wheels and sold a generation of Americans on the virtues of gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs, is now ...

[RegularGuy]

Is that the same IL governor who refuses to live in the governor's mansion in Springfield, but who flies chartered aircraft weekly between Chicago and Springfield?

[RegularGuy]

The current highway speed limits are based on safety, we're told. It is unsafe to drive faster than 65mph, the General Assembly says.

So if they lower the speed limits to 55mph to save fuel, will speeding tickets between 55-65mph go on your driving record as safety violations?

During the last round of 55mph limits, they did. They were treated just as if you'd violated the old 70mph, safety-based speed limit. Which, of course, provided a windfall for governments and also for insurance companies who could now raise rates based on a 'criminal' charge of wasting gasoline.

[steve]

I'm buying a honda fit and getting rid of my tahoe. I can't wait! I just can't take filling up anymore. It's painfull and i just won't deal with it anymore.

[Carla]

It seems as though the high price of gas is forcing changes that should have been done before now. Companies and government agencies should have been allowing and encouraging telecommuting and flexible hours not only to help the environment and the economy but to obtain and retain employees. I am working at a second company that has set me up to work at home and I think any one who can do their job at home should be pressing their employer to make it an option. You'll get an immediate pay raise just with the money you'll be saving on gas, wear and tear on your vehicle, insurance, "office clothing", going out for lunch, etc.
It is the best of both worlds!

[Marty McFly and Biff]

regularguy wrote: "Is that the same IL governor who refuses to live in the governor's mansion in Springfield, but who flies chartered aircraft weekly between Chicago and Springfield?"

Yes. He didn't want to disrupt 5-year old Zuzu's life in Chicago, and her friendships at a private montessori.

[Scott]

Just wait till this winter when heating costs make themselves felt. Propane, heating oil and natural gas have been doing the samething as oil and gasoline prices. We just haven't felt the full effect yet.

Electricity rates are jumping all over the country too as coal prices doubled.

Our standard of living is taking an enormous hit.

[Estella]

Scott wrote:

Just wait till this winter when heating costs make themselves felt. Propane, heating oil and natural gas have been doing the samething as oil and gasoline prices. We just haven't felt the full effect yet.
Electricity rates are jumping all over the country too as coal prices doubled.

Our standard of living is taking an enormous hit.

What standard of iving? I didn't know we had one.

[Get Real]

Estella wrote:

<quoted text>
What standard of iving? I didn't know we had one.

Spare me. Your standard of living is so high that you take it for granted. Take a look at the piles of clutter and overflowing closets that prevail at homes all over the country and compare it to the next-to-nothing that most people around the rest of the world own. Look at how many Americans can afford to be obese compared to those around the world who go to bed hungry.

The benefit of high gas prices is that people are having to evaluate what's truly important. And a houseful of cheap Chinese stuff and $5 cups of coffee aren't important. Huge, gas-guzzling vehicles aren't important. Almost anything that you have to buy at 15% or 20% or higher interest on a credit card isn't important. We have to learn to live with less because we don't truly *need* all of what we have.

[Get Real]

Governor Bad Hair Cut ought to be horsewhipped for using state funds to charter himself back and forth to Springfield when others are having to make drastic cuts just to survive. If you want to hold the office, you should be required to pay for your commute on your own dime.

[RCA Chicago]

55 MPH is a joke for anyone who regularly uses the expressways for business! Time is money and much more valuable than fuel! Just like the ethanol fiasco, the taxpayers and buisness will be paying out more billions so we can say we import less oil.
The solution is to allow the U.S. to drill for more of its own oil or find alternative fuels that are not subsidized by our taxes!
Anyone around during Jimmy Carter knows that 55 mph was window dressing and cost the economy billions!!

[Stimpy2]

Get Real wrote:

<quoted text>
Spare me. Your standard of living is so high that you take it for granted. Take a look at the piles of clutter and overflowing closets that prevail at homes all over the country and compare it to the next-to-nothing that most people around the rest of the world own. Look at how many Americans can afford to be obese compared to those around the world who go to bed hungry.
The benefit of high gas prices is that people are having to evaluate what's truly important. And a houseful of cheap Chinese stuff and $5 cups of coffee aren't important. Huge, gas-guzzling vehicles aren't important. Almost anything that you have to buy at 15% or 20% or higher interest on a credit card isn't important. We have to learn to live with less because we don't truly *need* all of what we have.

Truer words never spoken.
We have the richest poor people in the world.
But I too think the gas prices are painfull.