Quote: I just can't believe that people cannot afford to spend an extra 30-40 a month on gasoline.
I can. Lot of people are strapped (due to overspending, lost jobs, lower paying jobs, have to pay more for health insurance etc). My wife is a vet and some people can only pay $10 or 20.00 a month to pay their bill.
A good friend has a heating/pluming business. It used to be if their hot water heater went out they would pay the whole bill in cash or check. Today they want to make $25 or 50.00 monthly payments.
Of course most people are not like this but it's getting worse.
Gee. All the people I deal with want payment in full. They even take charge cards.
Fuel is probably less than 1/4 the cost of driving.
Cut your driving by 10% and you will not only save fuel, but wear-and-tear.
And you will probably eliminate some unneeded restaurant meals or shopping.
Well you know, after the essentials are paid for - the cell phone bill, internet bill, cable bill and eating out 4 times a week - there's just not much money left over for discretionary items...
Don't say that to loud, you'll be called a leftist for telling the truth. I've been plugging holes in my swiss cheese "energy efficient" house for the past two years and cutting our gas use by an average of 20-25% each month compared to the previous month's bill. Yet each month our heating and electric bill goes up about 10%. Cable is up 6%, phone bill up 10%, grad school tuition 90%, health insurance is up 6% and co-pays up 100%. Yup, no inflation anywhere.