Heck, what can we do? It sucks, but seriously......I can honestly see us like overseas and become swamped with scooters, and stop driving cars.

I'm all for that.

Maybe we won't be a nation of fat slobs if food keeps getting more expensive. Perhaps we should all look at this as a blessing in disguise. Less driving + less eating= healthier people. Or something like that.

Great point Dexter. This might force people to actually walk somewhere!

Very true, but doesn't less driving and less eating mean less spending money and less shopping (locally) which means worse economy, fewer jobs, etc.?

It's a vicious cycle...can't we just go to electric cars already and end this oil madness?! Then the battery companies can become the devil.

start growing your own produce...even if its just things like tomatoes, basil, cilantro, etc...

I'll keep doing what I've been doing.

P.S. This has been happening for ever, there's a term for it - inflation.

Hate to break it to you, but gas has not been fluctuating like it has the past 5 years or so forever. Yes, it has steadily been going up, but not at anything approaching the rate it has lately. Remember in the late 90s when it got up to $1.50/gallon it was big news. In 1990 or so it was about a dollar a gallon.

To illustrate my point, I just looked at the US Energy Information Administration at the average gas prices between the 90s and the 00s. The chart I'm seeing (http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/mg_tt_usA.htm) starts in 1993 with gas (all grades) at about $1.07/gal. In '94 it didn't change, then jumped to $1.15 in 1996. It peaked at $1.26 in 1997 at $1.24, then went down to $1.17 by '99.

Now look at the 00s. It was $1.15 in 2000, by '04 it was $1.89, then rose to $2.31 the following year. It's steadily jumped about $0.20 per year, and it'll probably make a similar or higher jump this year.

That's not normal inflation.

I was in Europe two weeks ago paying $7.50/gallon for gas. It's only going to get worse.

I try not to take these things too seriously because they're wrong a lot, but on the news this morning one of the finance experts is supposedly prognosticating $7/gallon by 2011 or something.

What will probably happen if gas prices get bigger and bigger? I'm guessing huge amounts of personal, high-rate debt. That seems to be the American method for dealing with financial adversity.

It would be nice if the city acknowledges this and does things like say... installs more sidewalks and bike lanes and improved public transportation.

I see a lot of scooters in the future.

Prices will keep going up and I will budget for those things. I'm not going to eat less...sorry...I'm not going to drive less....sorry....Dave Ramsey will get me through it (if you don't know who he is...look him up).

And...Wages going up will not help...When wages go up, people get fired and that causes unemployment. Gotta love two-edged swords.

Remember in Europe public transport connects every little town and village. Owning a car is luxury and is taxed hard. Here we can't even go east and west with Indygo not to mention getting to all places in this State. A horse or a car is needed here just to get to work. Don't compare our needs with Europe. I lived there 14 years. Wake up.

Ride your bike. Live closer to where you work. Sustain for yourself and those around you in more tightly knit neighborhoods and communities. And buy a house closer to where you want to spend the majority of your time soon. That is what my family and I did this year. It has been awesome and makes us more active and involved. Also live near a place where jobs will always (or almost always be plentiful). Oh, and have rich friends I guess because times seem to be getting tougher so theirs will stretch further.

I don't know, but I hope they come out with solar power cars soon.

I do all my errands with one trip now, and try to conserve. If Indy had a decent bus system it would help a lot, but that's never gonna happen... Hopefully car companies are forced to bring car MPG ratings up. I see why old people spend their time complaining about "in my day..."