The main problem with solar is the fact that there are no real good solutions for storing solar energy as of yet. Seeing as how the sun goes away for roughly half the day makes that a big problem.

I watched a news report on a guy who was using solar and wind to make hydrogen in is back yard. This is the way I always thought it should happen, but is also the biggest fear of the industries. If you could make a clean alternative energy in your garage, you would have no need for a filling station.

Hydrogen of course is one of the most abundant elements in the universe, unfortunately it tends to stick to everything so getting pure H is hard.. I think the saying was it took two gallons of gasoline to get 1 gallon of H..

However, if solar could refine enough H (basically splitting H out of H2O), along with nuclear, hydro and wind doing the same thing, I could see a day when oil will be used more for painting and lubrication rather than energy..

Let's face it - everything is going up because of something. Less wheat, corn fields ruined by the weather, flooding of the Mississippi causing foods to sit on barges and rot, gasoline which won't stop rising - you name it.

How can you feed a family? Milk $4 -$5/gallon; bread $3 - $4 (or more) per loaf, meats and veggies are up anywhere from 40 - 60% over last year. Gasoline won't stop rising. Home heating is ridiculous. Adjustable mortgages are killing people - or just forcing them out of their homes. Rents are up 30 - 60% over the past year. Years ago you paid auto insurance which would go down each year as your car got older. Now it is the opposite. The premiums are rising because it costs more to fix cars. Homeowners and renters insurance does not cover much if you ever have a problem. And if they give you any money for any reason - your rates wil soon double.

Pasta that was 89 cents/lb is up to $1.39 or more/lb. Dairy products are unbelieveable.

Today General Mills announced that they are cutting their cereal box sizes down 1/3 but they are not lowering their prices. More restaurants are decorating your dish with grass (you know what I mean) to make it look like you are getting something.

Last year you could get ground beef on sale for 99 cents/lb - now the sale price is $2.09/lb.

Ice cream is now sold in 56 oz containers instead of the regular 64 oz. half gallons.

I bought a box of ice cream cones - I now need a smaller ice cream scoop. I could not believe how small they have gotten! But with half gallons of ice cream being downsized I should have expected it.

Bags of chips used to be 2 for $4 - and 7 or more oz. per bag. Now they are 2 for $7 and 4 1/2 - 5 oz.

Pringles have gotten smaller.

I remember older people complaining about 5 years ago that dressing bottles, cracker boxes, etc. were all too big for one person and sometimes they had waste. Now it seems like everything is heading into the individual size!

Have you notice bars of soap lately? Smaller. They keep this up and they will be hotel-sized.

Anyone remember those big nickel candy bars from years ago?? They make them smaller now - $1.49 for a candy bar that used to be 49 cents. I could not believe the price of candy bars. Ditto with ice cream novelties - no more 59 cent items - 3 bucks is more like it.

Love these 10 for $10 sales in the supermarket. Half the size of a normal size and a buck for one is too much!

One store I was in today - buy one get one free on chips - save $4.29. Cripe!

Even the off-brand items that used to be cheap are getting too high.

Ball jars - smart people. Raised all their prices as well. That'll teach ya to can or freeze your own stuff!

It's all around us. Everywhere you look. Sure this is only the beginning of it. But how long do you think people will be able to buy the "extras" and "frills"?

I'd love to hit the mega millions - buy acres and acres of land - set up a large farm with cows, dairy cows, pigs, chickens, etc. plant orchards and veggies and find a bunch of families to live on the land and help to farm it, share in the canning and preserving; build some wind mills for energy, etc. At least we'd have electricity and eat well. LOL

Mama, I hope you hit the lotto soon! By the way can I come if I promise to milk the cow, hoe the garden, and help in everyway I can?

We may have to go back to the communal lifestyle, just leave the stupid pot-heads out of the picture and it may work this time around. That is probably the reason they failed to begin with: the pot and all the stupid free love stuff. Idiots!

Well KYH, another strange component to this story is this: Not only are more farmers than ever switching to corn because they perceive it as a total MONEY CROP, but here in central Illinois corn country we still have MOUNTAINS of LAST YEAR'S corn piled 3 times the height of farm houses on the ground with tarps over it, MOLDING. I was born and raised here in farm country- have had ties here all my life, and I have NEVER seen such surplus, such waste and such high prices all at the same time. Ever. It's enough to turn one's stomach.

The problem with Illinois and corn, Chubs, is that it spoils you for anywhere else.

I remember, once, being out in Wyoming during an incredibly good season. Or maybe it was Montana. Anyway, my host was bragging on their 80 bushel corn. "Eighty bushel," I asked? "With 80 bushel corn my neighbors (we lived in northern Illinois at the time) would let the insurance company have it."

But, when you have 12-16 feet of black dirt, and plenty of sunshine, and rain in the right amounts, 120 bushel corn---a record anywhere else--- becomes just average.

More directly to your point: What do we have, right now? One federally funded pilot plant? And a document that says we're going to need corn to produce all that ethanol that's going to replace gasoline---that is, if they can figure out how to keep the alcohol from melting all those plastic components.

What we really need is an open season on stupid politicians. Oh, wait. That's redundent.