[mitchntx]

Katrina is gonna cause a $.20 spike in fuel costs .....

[bubba353z]

Might I suggest everyone take the time to figure out how $3 or $4 a gallon fuel will effect you life and put that on paper (or your computer screen) and send it to your Senators and Representitives.

Not to pee on everyone's Cheerios here, but Europe has been paying $4-5 per gallon for years. Granted a lot of European cities have better mass transit and are more centralized than many US cities, but they are surviving. How? - small cars and diesels power are commonplace there.

I haven't read all of this thread, so forgive me if this has been discussed - but there are market forces at play here as well. Supply and demand dictates the price. OPEC is keeping the barrel price up, by curtailing production - and demand is up. Oil companies are also partly responsible, but it's not all their fault either. Countries like China are starting to "discover" the automobile, and if one billion Chinese start buying cars - look out.

Perhaps if more people drove reasonable cars and stop buying Suburbans and Hummers to drive their 2 year old to daycare - we'd all be a little better off. Maybe I'm being smug because I drive a 32 mpg Civic, but a lot of people are buying the status as opposed to the utility of SUV's and big cars.

I do feel for the big rig drivers (especially owner operators) and the working folks who use their truck as part of their trade - those are the people who really need the help. All of the H1 owners can kiss my a$$.