It is nice to see that everyone blames America for their problems—yet, these same people want to take advantage of the all the opportunities that America has to offer—education and freedom. Until, we wake up, start Congress fighting for the people and not Corporate life, start a massive transport system across our nation, start listening to scientist and not just scare tactics, and stop being so damn politically correct and start using common sense—we are going down the tubes—and a very expensive ride it will be.

I think it has severely cramped my life. I love travel. Three years ago driving was not a concern. Nor was flying. Now both of these drill serious holes in people’s pockets. It has driven travel costs much higher. And yes, now I think twice or thrice before travelling anywhere.

Americans need to stop their whining. The fact is that oil and gas prices are driven, like everything else, largely by demand. That seemingly insatiable demand does not cede in the face of higher prices at the pump and thus is justified. Americans need only open their eyes to what’s going on in the rest of the world to realize that maybe, just maybe, they don’t have it so bad!

After traveling throughout Europe for the past two months and meeting many citizens (everyday people just like us) from more than 9 countries I can say without a doubt that we Americans live a sheltered life. We like to believe that we are the only country, the only people, that have everyday economic issues and that those poor developing developing countries are doing better than us. Here’s what other real people (non-US Citizens) are saying about America:

1. Americans complain about gas prices, I already pay $6/gallon - England

2. I lost so much money investing in American stocks because your dollar sucks - Australia

3. Banks in developing countries are paying 5-6% more on savings accounts compared to American account. Because the depositor spends less money on consumables and has more to save. Thus the banks have more to loan out. - India

4. The mid-East oil your going after is not a large contribution to your daily oil consumption, so what not spend the billions of war money on saving Africa form itself - New Zeland

5. Your economy and lifestyle could be cut in half and you would still have bigger and better than most other industrialized nations. It’s crazy the average American will not let go of even the smallest comfort in there life. - France

6. You let yourself get taking in by cheap mortgage loans left the whole world holding the bag. You caused a run on the bank both in England and Switzerland just last month because of their US mortgage holdings. - Switzerland

The list goes on and on. It seems every person in every country has money issues and many complain theie money issues are because of Americans.

Many Americans will fall through the cracks due to whole life choices on education, ethics, politics, and more. It’s time we American wake up and stop acting like some spoiled child who has had there favorite toy taken from them. Stop complaining about others, stop suggesting what others should do, and just take action in your own life.

My name is Caiden Nguyen I operate a car transport company called Express Auto Shippers, Inc. or http://www.carshipping-cartransport.com The gas prices have been tremendously tough for our business. We have a hard time expanding our operation due to the steep rise and fall of the gas prices. I hope we can come up with an alternative in fuel or maybe they should set a limit on what the gas prices can reach. I know the government or police officials recieve discounted prices for fuel. Can they give big companies a small break if they use a certain amount or maybe something creative would be great… I also think our government should invest to engineer and research to build engines to utilize alternative fuel, imagine if we had to pay the same amount of money for fuel but maybe we could use a fuel that did not hurt our environment. After all this is over with we have to consider what we have done to this precious earth, if we make the right choices now we can actually change the world! Just an opinion..

Why not? It changed my life when gas hit 50 cents.

The $4 gas will increase every price - so inflation will be high. Unfortunately our guvern let all this money to go to our friends (oil producers) instead having increase the tax on gasoline to have the money on US budget.
Look at european country they got $7-8/gal price on gas and they are ok.
When the gasoline was $1.5/gal if the tax was another $1.5/gal we would changed the cars and driving behaviour much earlier.
With all the money from gas tax, should build larger free-way and eventualy help the poor to be able to drive. So those money are going to our friends (oil producers).
Better put other $2-3 tax make the gasoline $6-7 anyhow will go slowly to that price. Will very painfull for a while, but reducing the consume, the oil price will come down fast…

Yes. My investment in oil stocks would provide lucrative income, more than off-setting the rise in my personal consumption.

As fuel costs rise, so will all our food and merchandise that requires fuel-based transport. Certainly, with more money going toward gas and household essentials, home values will tumble even more and people will have less disposable income. This will inevitably hurt small and big businesses. Larger homes will require more energy to heat and cool, and our poor and people on fixed incomes may suffer from the inability to afford heating. A war with Iran will put this scenario on fast-track but I don’t think those who’re pushing this war will need to worry about fuel costs since they’ll make a bundle from the war.

Without substantial changes in our mindset and ideas of what makes a viable community, Americans will continue to have problems with energy consumption. While Europe has the luxury of close together cities and a history of mass transit throughout their smaller countrysides, America was built with a sense of wide-open spaces and expansion. We are 20-40 years behind were we need to be NOW for mass transportation outside of large, urban centers. We should begin immediately to get back to clustered work/live areas, even in the suburbs and outlying areas, but that will take a massive committment to changing the way business and housing structures are zoned and built, and the way our streets are layed out to minimize the dangers of bike/scooter riding and plain walking. That’s what makes vibrate cities work and enables them to have mass transit that is cost effective, which is what we need in the suburbs. We can make changes in our daily lives, including less energy comsumptive personal modes of transportation (biking, carpooling, scooters, etc.), but the biggest thing we could possible do to help cut our dependence on foreign oil is to stop thinking in the short-term and look at the long-term needs. Between the distances most Americans need to travel for work and daily life (outside of NE corridor urban areas), the attitudes of politicans catering to big business and corporate sponsors (the real estate and housing industries, banks, insurance companies, auto makers, etc.), and the mindset of the American driver, it’s going to take some people with a lot of vision to get changes to occur anytime soon. Personally, I’d love to ride my bike or scooter to work…I just wouldn’t bet on my being alive or uninjured around these roads or drivers past a fortnight.