Rising Gas Prices Got You Down? Think Different

The Energy Department said last week that the average American household will pay $700 more for gas in 2011, thanks to rising oil prices. And, we're only about 20% through the year so if prices keeping going up, we could wind up paying a lot more than the estimated $3,235.

President Obama and the House Republicans have proposed a lot of solutions to this problem, like tapping the strategic oil reserves (a temporary solution at best); developing new sources of oil here in the U.S. (which couldn't have much of an impact, either, given the small amount of oil available here compared to the Middle East); developing new and better alternative fuels (a long-term solution); and more efficient technologies (same).