I paid $2.35 per gallon for gas this morning, and the country’s average is now $2.492. I feel like I’ve been tricked into believing that $2.35 is cheap after having to spend $2.70 to $3.00 per gallon these past few months. Perhaps the oil industry is pulling back after announcing huge profits in the wake of Katrina and in fear of being scrutinized for price gouging.

Hurricane repairs and insurance payments lift both personal spending and income; prices in check. This sounds like temporary relief to me. In fact, it’s not all good news. The saving rate is still negative at -0.4 percent. So while the move was in a good direction, we’re still spending more than we’re saving.

I’ve tried that (back in my days of reckless abandonment—which were neither reckless nor abandoned). It doesn’t work.

This is a post just for personal finance bloggers, so others may not be too interested.

I’m building a new service and I’d like to do it in partnership (think “group ownership” with everyone having an equal role) with several other people. I’ve already assumed the risk (purchased the domain name) but I’d like to get other bloggers on board. It’s a service that has some well-known “competitors,” but with help from a team I think it can be great and add a lot of value to what’s available online. Email me privately if you’re interested.

The Carnival of Personal Finance has reached issue #20, and is hosted this week by WealthyWeb. All of the articles submitted and included are worth reading, but particularly these:

• 2million realized that 0% balance transfers (like the one I attempted) have a negative affect on a credit score.
• When it’s not rabbit season or duck season, it’s tax season. JLP is getting back into the swing of things with an article heeding us to start planning our taxes now.
• Jon from SmartMoney Daily made a great negotiating move.

I hope everyone’s having a great weekend!

With my latest cable bill, the last promotion I had (Digital Silver Plus with Comcast ended, and the price for the service would be going up to $85 per month. I don’t wantch too much television anyway, so I decided it was time to break away from the service. I brought my digital box into the station in order for the company to switch me to the $15 per month basic service.

I did, however, replace cable with Netflix, which will cost $15 per month. So the net savings is only $55 per month, but that will save me some money in the long run. NetFlix is a much better deal. The savings should help me pay for the increased heating costs this winter.

In January, there will supposedly be a new promotion for cable internet service, so perhaps I’ll be saving another $10 to $20 a month at that point.

I’ve been a bit busy at work today, so I haven’t had the chance to do the usual surfing. I did notice this article earlier and it’s interesting enough to mention. Business 2.0 is predicting a big boom in the “megapolitan” areas, extending to 2030. The authors of the article, Paul Kaihla and Krysten Crawford, define these megapolitan areas with names of varying catchiness:

• Altantic Seaboard (Boston, New York, Washington)
• I-85 Corridor (Raleigh-Durham, Atlanta)
• Southern Florida (Miami, Tampa)
• Great Lakes Horeseshoe (Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburgh)
• I-35 Corridor (Kansas City, Dallas, San Antonio)
• Gulf Coast Belt (New Orleans, Houston)
• Valley of the Sun (Phoenix, Tucson)
• Southland (Los Angeles, Las Vegas)
• Norcal (Sacramento, San Francisco)

• Cascadia (Seattle, Portland)

The cost of higher education is huge, and I don’t see how middle class families can afford to send multiple kids to good schools without sacrificing their own finances. Take a look at the ten most expensive colleges in the United States.

1. Landmark: $37,738
2. George Washington U.: $36,400
3. U of Richmond: $34,850
4. Sarah Lawrence: $34,042
5. Kenyon: $33,930
6. Vassar: $33,800
7. Trinity: $33,630
8. Bennington: $33,570
9. Simon’s Rock College of Bard: $33,364
10. Hamilton: $33,350

Even though most colleges aren’t this expensive, the only way for most people to afford college is to go into debt. Those who pay full price subsidize those who can’t. College tuition is a little like Social Security with respect to redistribution of wealth: the more you pay in, the more funds are available for the needy.