Another ominous 5-year landmark reached this March...

...it's of the dismal economic variety. Seems you're not the only one who is a bit nervous about the financial outlook in the days ahead. Today from AP:

Consumer confidence drops to 5-year low on pessimism about jobs, income
by Eileen Alt Powell, Associated Press
NEW YORK – American consumers are gloomier about the economy than at any point since just before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, as slumping housing prices and soaring fuel costs depress consumer confidence to its lowest level in five years.

The Conference Board, a business-backed research group, said Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index plunged to 64.5 in March from a revised 76.4 in February.

The March reading was far below the 73.0 expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson/IFR and was the worst reading since the gauge registered 61.4 in March 2003, just ahead of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Weakening consumer confidence foreshadows weakening consumer spending, which could hurt the already faltering economy.

The good news in high gas prices...

...is that expensive auto fuel pushes us to use more public transportation. From a quick article from Reuters:

U.S. mass transit use hits 50-yr high on pump prices
By Rebekah Kebede, REUTERS, March 10, 2008

NEW YORK – The number of Americans hopping buses and grabbing subway straps has climbed to the highest level in half a century as soaring gasoline costs push more commuters to take mass transit.

U.S. mass transit ridership began to surge when gasoline hit the $3 a gallon level in 2005 and has continued to rise steadily ever since as pump prices top record after record, according to a report released Monday by the American Public Transit Association.

“As people are struggling with the increase in fuel prices, they have to make adjustments, and one of the ways they are doing that is driving less and taking public transportation more,” said William Millar, the president of the APTA.

Mass transit use increased by more than 2 percent in 2007 to the highest level in 50 years, with Americans taking more than 10 billion trips on public transport while the number of vehicle miles traveled was flat in the first 10 months of the year.

Congresswoman Susan Davis scored a nice one...

...she wrote the legislation that saved a popular Southern California surfspot from intrusion by toll road. Here's one where the good guys win, from Davis's website:

Susan Davis Toll Road Language Becomes Law
Defense bill with provision removing special exemption from state law signed

WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Susan Davis’s amendment requiring a proposed toll road through a state park to follow state environmental laws became law when President Bush signed the defense authorization bill (H.R. 4986) last night.

“This has always been about maintaining the integrity of the process that we follow for proposed transportation projects in the state,” said Davis, a member of the Armed Services Committee. “There is no reason why it should have received a special exemption from the standard process and environmental safeguards, especially when such unique natural resources are at stake.”

The proposed toll road would have a devastating impact on the unique environmental and highly utilized recreational resources at San Mateo campground and Trestles Beach.