Then comes the list of problems constituting the mess: a protracted war, $4-a-gallon gas, soaring food prices, uncertainty about jobs, an erratic stock market, a tougher housing market, and so on and so forth.

Still another mentions a friend who can barely afford gas.

Do I pay for gas?

After all, how can the average Joe or Jane control the price of gas or end the war?

Townsend recalls World War II and having to ration almost everything: sugar, leather shoes, tires, gas.

Perhaps that's why one of the Arizona Optimists, Marilyn Pell, couldn't help but raise her voice when referencing something she'd heard on the news: That gas prices might rise to $7 a gallon by 2010.

In California's Silicon Valley, one of the wealthiest places, the nation's housing crash can be seen as a healthy correction and a buying opportunity, and high gas prices are unpleasant, yes, but not unbearable.

I worry about my gardeners and how they're dealing with the cost of fuel, for example.

But 100 years from now, if I were still alive, would I really care that I paid $4 a gallon for gas?