The Cost Of Oil

A reader writes about his struggle with rising gas prices:

Not only is it 25 miles round trip just for me to go to the grocery store, hardware store--any store--but I drive for a living, 150,000 miles a year. With the economy in the dumps, freight has tanked. Because there are too many trucks and not enough freight, many freight rates are flat or lower--and have been since Christmas. Meanwhile, diesel has skyrocketed. It's hard to tread water...most of the time I feel like I'm sinking. I lose being out on the road working but I cannot afford to stay home either.

So, while the wealthy can afford the increases in fuel and food, and city people at the very least have alternative ways to get around, those of us in the country (and those of us who haul the stuff that everyone buys) are having a very, very hard time. I'd love 'research into alternatives'; I'd love alternatives period. But while I wait for those--and oil continues to rise--I'll likely lose my truck and my home of twenty years.