Maybe I shouldn't be the one to worry about this. After all, I spent $45 today and it completely filled my Toyota. The previous tank was a few bucks cheaper, and it lasted 578 miles, or 35 miles per gallon. So it is a less serious problem for me.

As much as I would like to place the blame on certain political folks, I think more of the blame goes to Ford, GM, and Chrysler. Those are the people who spent big bucks with lots of zeros trying to convince Americans that we needed huge truck-like vehicles for our daily runs to school, the store, the office, and the soccor field. They succeeded.

There are now millions of Americans driving around at 25 cent a mile and up, in vehicles that have 4-wheel drive but have never been off the pavement. They are able to pull trailers that weigh six tons, but most never get to pull more than a motorboat. Many of those boats weigh less than a ton, trailer and motor included.

The larger engines require a couple of quarts more oil at each change, and all that weight wears out those big expensive tires rather quickly. Did you know that tires are also a petroleum product? So is the asphalt they roll on. Did you know that heavier vehicles increase the cost of maintaining highways?

So tonight, on the news, they were saying that sales of big, American vehicles is way down, and sales of smaller, more effecient Japanese vehicles is way up. I think I understand that.
Howard