[fabsroman]

What I have read is that if everybody in the US bought a car that got about 7 miles per gallon better gas mileage, we would have absolutely no reliance on the Arab nations. If a lot of people made their homes energy efficient, that would help us out too.

Problem is that nobody wants to invest the money to do so, and with the rat race that we have (i.e., bigger is better) everybody wants the SUV like the guy next door.

When I went to Italy 4 years ago, people were driving cars that sat only 2 or 3 people and the cars were extremely small and good on gas. The Toyota Prius gets 55 mpg and there are other hybrids out there. If people would switch to hybrids or alternative fuel vehicles, we wouldn't be having this problem with gas and we could tell the Arab nations to pee up a rope.

Problem is, nobody wants to do it. Like I have been telling my wife of a day, life is full of problems and we just need to work out a solution. Gas is high, so there are several options:

1. Find a job closer to home
2. Get a car with better gas mileage
3. Buy a motorcycle
4. Buy a bicycle

When I was younger (i.e., too young to drive), I rode my bike 10 miles each way to a bike shop to work.

Right there, the Chinese have a step up on us. Plenty of them rides bikes and are in much better shape than Americans. We have an obesity problem because people are used to an easy life.

Let's all stop complaining about everything, put our heads down, and push on. If you have the money, spend it. If you do not have the money, find an alternative.

To think that I am a pessimist.

As far as spending is concerned, I got married last night and we recouped over 50% of the cost of the reception in monetary gifts, not to mention the items that we received from our registry. So, the economy cannot be doing too bad.