The tax checks can't hurt in the short term. I think things are a little better than they were a couple months ago. I don't think gas will ever go down much, but I think everyone who can will start driving cars that get better mileage. I know my next vehicle purchase will get good mileage.
The prize for someone who can make the use of an alternative energy source a widespread reality will continue to grow until the odds of someone developing the disruptive technology to do it becomes a certainty. A lot of the same people who were inovators in the technology field are now working on the energy question - something big with respect to energy is going to come down the pike. For example, there is an article in Wired magazine this month about a start-up that has come up with a way for people to manufacture their own ethanol for about $1 a gallon in the backyard. The guy who put up the money is a venture capitalist who financed the development of the Wii gaming control motion sensors. You put a big enough carrot out there, and somebody is going to find a way to get it.
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