[Uturn2001]

Well said Fozzy.

If just 50% of the people in this country would reduce their fuel consumption by 2 gallons a week, a lot more would happen than simply not buying fuel for one day. Of course this is assuming the other 50% does not increase their consumption by the same amount.

[GMAN]

Reducing speed and idling will help, but the only thing I see as really helping is to either start drilling oil in and around this country or come up with a viable alternative. I prefer the second alternative. Until there is something we can use in lieu of diesel and gasoline, we are at the mercy of these oil companies. And don't think it is only the Arabs who are price gouging. There isn't any serious competition within the oil industry any more. Competition will get prices down faster than anything. The government isn't going to do anything to help. They make more money when oil prices go up. I think the technology is there, I am not sure about the will to get it to the marketplace.

[Sheepdancer]

Here is the best solution. Instead of "being at the mercy" of oil companies and playing the victm card. Learn to partner with those oil companies and make money with them. A small investment in a good oil company stock will make you far more money than you are paying extra at the pump for your 4 wheeler. If you are an owner op paying for your own fuel, perhaps a larger investment would suffice. Its really that simple.
Example: my cars get really crappy gas mileage, on average i use about 15 gallons of gas a week. If the price of fuel goes up a dollar that costs me obviously 15 bucks more a week or 780 bucks a year. Now, I will use exxon in this example because its well known. If I own 100 shares of Exxon stock, just the stock price alone would have made me around $1644.00 on that 100 shares. So gas prices go up.... $1644 in stock returns - the 780 a year im spending in gas = An increase in net worth of $864.00.....Nothing to whine about.

Sheepdancer not ALL of us have the option of playing the market. There are quite a few of us that have a hard time getting by. I myself am on SSDI for my Epilepsy and do not have the income to by any stock at all. You try burning ALL AND I MEAN ALL your life savings up getting an uncurable medical condition under control then having to wait 3 long years for the goverment to finally decide that you are disabled. The only reason I finally got my SSDI was the stress of the hearings threw me into a GTC which for those who do not know anyone is a Grand Mal Seizure or full body convulsion then 6 months later after my ex-wife had spent every last dime I did get in back benefits she left me leaving me high and dry.

I am now trying to put my life back together and know I will never feel the wonderful feeling of having 80K lbs under my control but I hear people like you saying work harder or save more some of us do not have that option. I look at the last 6 years and wonder what happend to the surplus that George W Bush was given by Bill Clintons policies when he took office then I remembered the tax cuts for the upper 1% and cry. That and the war in Iraq what is it now close to 3400 dead gas prices Double what they were when he took office. He came into office stating I will be the most ethical President in the History of this country SORRY HE FELL SHORT ON THAT ONE. HE WILL BE REMEMBERED AS THE WORST ONE IN HISTORY. Maybe if he had not used so many Regan and Bush 1 retreads t may have been different. To the Moderators sorry to have ranted but when the policies of this country are written by the compaines that the goverment is supposed to regulate we are in trouble.

[Sheepdancer]

Sheepdancer not ALL of us have the option of playing the market.

I disagree. Everyone has the ability to invest and save money, many just choose not to.

Fine try to live on what I bring home then I get 1213 a month in SSDI my rent on my house is 500 utilites are 200 insurance for my car 120 gas with it so high is another 100 meds even with help 60 a month food takes the rest were do I come up with money for the FREAKING MARKET. By the way I have tried to find a part time job to supplement my SSDI but my BODY will not let me do it anymore. I have no were I could cut back and I get to much for help on meds or anything like that I am the ultimate working poor I slip through every crack in the system.

[Sheepdancer]

Im not the one who can say what you can or cannot do. However I do believe if you didnt have the defeatist attitude you could find a way. About 7 years ago my father in law fell off his roof and broke his spine. He lost his job as a respatory theorpist and can barely walk now. He cant leave the house for long periods of time because of the nerve damage he might crap in his pants. However even with his SSI he does find away to invest. In his spare time because he is always at home he buys and sells things on ebay and makes a pretty good extra income doing that. And with that money he invests.
From your first post what i saw was someone saying "I cant I CANT" and then for some reason you went off blaming the president for your situation. As long as you keep telling yourself there is no way you can invest or save, I doubt you would be able to. However, if one day you wake up and look at yourself in the mirror and start telling yourself, Im going to figure out a way to succeed no matter what life throws at me, you might be surprised at what you can do.

[Sheepdancer]

If I were in a situation I would sit down and figure out a way to save money by making a complete list of expenses I really didnt need.
My Direct Tv Bill = 70 bucks a month or $840 a year.
My home phone bill 49 a month = 588 a year
My cell phone bill = 100 a month = 1200 a year
My internet access= 30 a month = 360 a year
I dip snuff ( I should quit) 1 can every 2 days = 912 a year.
I love my beer however I dont get drunk= about a 6 pack a week= 364 a year.
I bet if I really tried I could cut my electric bill in half by turning off lights and being smart. Right now I pay on average about 400 bucks a month for electric that would equate to 4800 a year....if I cut that in half I would save 2400 bucks.

Ok, lets total all of that up. If I ever found myself in financial trouble I could cut out all those things and save 6664 bucks a year. Use that money to buy clothing by the pallet wholesale. Reselling it, conbine that with any disability pay I had, invest some and snoball all of that to a pretty comfortable living. But hey, that is just me. I tend to shy away from a defeatist attitude.

[Sheepdancer]

Here is a great idea. You need money, you have all this free time on your hands and for some reason, even though you say you are poor and cant afford anything, you have internet access. Why not recruit drivers for me? Id be happy to split my commissions with you for any driver you send me and I get hired. Sure it would be hard. If you worked hard at it 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, if you are a smart enough guy to think outside the box and generate your own leads, you could make a very good living.

One small problem about that sheepdnacer I would only refer a driver to a company if I drove for them. Since I NEVER even if they were the last company left refer a driver to JB Hunt forget it. The reason I do have Internet access is simple called I bundled my cable package with my internet access and it is only 15 bucks a month. I get so sick of people saying pull yourself up or cut back I can not cut back anymore there is nothing left to cut. As for your E-bay no way will I do that my father was taken advantage of to many times by scammers and lost way to much money doing that. Called I live in my means yet the goverment of the LAST 6 YEARS could not and now my neices and nephews are going to be forced to pay for it.