I wish I could take mass transit for my commute. Its cheaper to rent an apartment and stay over in the town I wherein I work4 days a week than it is to drive back and forth between the town where I work and where I live. WTF?

Luckyjoe

Surely.

http://blogs.opisnet.com/

Tom Kloza even provides a fuel rate chart with that coincides with the present economic slide in the US. OPIS has even conducted two major interviews with British Petrolium and Chevron executives that helped explain some of the voluntary price drops by oil companies to try and stay on the good side of Americans during this critical crunch in the economy. Plus we're in the middle of an election cycle, and Jeff Rubin at CIBC even admits that part of what we're seeing is the oil companies trying to stay off the radar while things are somewhat in turmoil.

Also, Exxon Mobile's $25 billion annual profits despite the slump in oil usage in the US shows that they had some price inflation going on to maintain their profit margin. I don't know if you really need me to produce examples of how the media and the Internet have criminalized the oil industry (here's that gets 250k hits a month), or if you really require proof of the government threatening regulation of gas prices in the last 6 months. This is all easily researched.

You're not suggesting that oil companies (GASP!) actively collude in order to further their mutual interests, are you McClaud? SCANDALOUS!!

Going as a CEO of AIG I'm guessing.

As much as I hate to discuss politics ... well, not really, we all know the current economic problems and can feel the impact. Whatever index figures you read in government reports you can double them to get closer to the truth and it will get far worse ... 2009 will be brutal.

The best thing we can focus on is how to protect whatever personal wealth we have left. Get out of debt as quickly as possible and off the grid! Become as self-sustainable as possible and build a supportive network within your community, including working with local farmers. We are all going to need eachother.

Unlike the crooks who have caused this crisis, we the people will not be bailed out.

And don't forget that this is an environmentally friendly hobby - cardboard terrain is a great carbon sink