No, I wouldn't support gas rationing. Unless they'd like to move my kids that are dying closer to me. I drive 3000 miles every six to eight weeks between work and pleasure. And believe me, the majority is NOT for pleasure. But when a kids needs me, I don't want to have to choose between going to see them and going to the grocery store because my rationed amount is almost up. The 50.5 cents per mile that the IRS has decided we get for work doesn't even come close any more to covering the expenses of driving. I need an oil change every six weeks, if I'm lucky. And I drive a car with around 30-34 mpg (yay, Vibe) because of the gas mileage it gets. I think that's more responsible than the coworkers driving their MDXs.

It's less, far less. I was talking to a guy who I know has subcontracted from Carpet Exchange for 10 years (fool) and he told me that they just took a 25% cut in rate.

If this trend continues I might have to go back to MIS *shudder*. I think we'll see a scale increase this year or next though, at least a cost of living increase.

See that's the exact point I'm trying to make. I left the IT sector 5 years ago and was planning the departure for close to 10 years during my 20+ IT career. The IT wages were dropping and workload increasing. I wasn't interested in it any longer.

I moved into a Business Analyst role working with IT people. So while my counterparts who stayed in the industry had to take paycuts, I kept my salary and kept increasing my wages.

My point is that no one is tied down to anything and have choices and options. You may not want to go to back to MIS but you'd do so if it meant keeping your family afloat.