As I see - and feel the pain of - rising gas prices I keep thinking of heating oil for this winter.  And hopefully, no hurricanes disrupting refining and distribution to raise prices even faster.  Families are going to have 4-way imposssible choices among heat, gas, food, and for some the predatory mortgage.  Maybe folks with the SUV's etc can cut two of the four by declaring their SUV a motorhome and live in it...

When I see families of 3 or 4 with big vehicles I remember Saturday's as a kid: an adult, four teenagers and a week's groceries for 6 in a VW bug.  Since the VW was much cheaper to operate than our 6 passenger Plymouth, it was what we used.  After we all left home nobody had a car that would seat more than 4 and when we got together for visits and the whole gang went somewhere it took 2 cars (or a rental for long trips).  Those drawbacks were happily offset by the daily savings of small, and  occassionally crowded, vehicles.

After living in recent years with easy to aquire, inexpensive excess, it will interesting, and painful, to see the changes from a consumtive lifestyle to a thrifty one.    --Kay