A fine trend story looking at how rising gas prices are affecting people's consumption, leisure and even employment. Speaking directly with working-class business owners dealing with this problem made the story more credible, illustrating the statistics well. I find it odd, though, that the reporter spoke with an Exxon employee being laid off without mentioning that Exxon boasted record profits in 2007. See the article below for support.

This article thoroughly analyzes how higher gas prices are affecting many different groups in the D.C.-metro area: consumers/drivers, area commuters, Exxon dealers, pro-driving industry groups, workers who depend on driving to make their livings, and economists watching spending behavior. The reporter even asked Exxon Mobile if they could explain why local gas stations are going out of business, and Exxon had no comment. Many sources quotes, many surveys linked to. Good "big picture," as D.C.'s gas prices are right around the national average, so what is going on here is most likely going on in other metro areas throughout the U.S.

Great use of numbers in this story. Plenty of viewpoints, and the evidence supports the title premise well. I'm surprised at the lack of discussion about vehicle sales, however.

This provides a basic understanding of trend. It will be interesting to see if the behavioral trends stick. Solutions such as mass transit have never been seriously considered in the U.S. Opponents argue that we won't let loose of our cars and besides we are a larger country than Europe. The story from the Baltimore Sun linked below shows how ephemeral the last rush to transit was.

"People now realize that prices may come back down, but they're not going down to where they were" - the mantra of the article and all of us. The CAR era as we know it is gone for good even if we will see more hybrids and the millage increased by the government or not. Ethanol is not a solution either to maintain the flow of the cars on the highway. A massive conceptual and inherited social habits change is needed. Mass transit/public transportation is something to be consider LOCALLY, state by state county by county. This will not be easy to implement due to people reluctance to it and population dispersion in USA but nevertheless should be consider. Maybe a combination of hybrid buses and trains that will avoid driving to the ... More »