Money and Markets -- How to Get Cheap Gas

My latest MoneyandMarkets.com post is up. here it is ..

How to Get Cheap Gas
by Sean Brodrick
Wednesday, May 07, 2008 7:30 AM
With gasoline prices up 15 cents a gallon in the last two weeks — and about 63% in the last 18 months — American drivers are feeling a pinch at the pump. Consumers are demanding that ... [More...]

Unfortunately -- or "fortunately," if you think I'm too long-winded -- some sections were cut out. Being a writer who is possessive and protective of his words, my first instinct is to wish my editor is fed to Satan's own chihuahuas. However, as one wag once said of Thomas Jefferson, "Like most writers, he did not think he should be edited at all. Like most writers, he was wrong."

So here are two sections that were cut out ...

Section #1 goes right after the section on bringing back the 55-mph speed limit.

Denial Isn’t Just a River in Egypt

Now I can tell you that advocating a rollback in speed limits is fightin’ words. This is a battle going on in my own house, by the way, and I’m not the one with the lead foot. I’m the one who sets the cruise control at “60.” My wife on the other hand …

But my wife has nothing on a friend of mine who lives for the sheer speed he can crank out of his sports car, and he HATES the idea of driving 55. His other ride is a Ford Excursion (15 mpg highway, 12 mpg city), and yet he rails and rants about high gasoline prices. When I tell him that his high speeds means he’s paying an extra buck a gallon, he gets even more red in the face.

There’s no arguing logic with some people. That’s why this needs to be a LAW, and not a suggestion.

Section #2 was the original ending for the section on "peer pressure."

We could also have fun with this one. I say if a vehicle doesn’t get 25 miles per gallon or better, the U.S. government gets to pick the name of that vehicle. Let’s see how many people like driving around in the “Cadillac Fatso,” “Ford Extinction” or “Chevy Junkbucket.” How’s that for peer pressure? It’s hard to brag about driving a new Junkbucket!

XX anyway, the editor won the first round, but that's what blogs are for -- so I can have final say. And trimmed down or not, I like this week's column a lot. Go read it NOW.

Check out my new gold and energy blog at MoneyAndMarkets.com