at least you wont have to worry about any pretension about companies caring about families or any of that anymore. with threats they will be able to drive the worker as hard as they can, throw them away and will always have an endless supply

sounds like larry flynt influence

they are full of it . that average is twisted, they need to look at the average rise per square foot, not per address or however they do it because those $10 increases must be living in a small area. I have a 5 member family - our usage down 18% year over year , 13% previous month - we are working hard to lower our bills etc but still a 120$ increase. All these ideas great ideas for utopia, health care reform maybe with coverage for all, green energy, eco-taxes (like taxing gas until its too expense to drive to improve the eco) , etc, but i fear myself and the rest of the middle class will not survive it. and yes it probably is because of many, many years of govt failing the people of this nation, but the medicine may prove as deadly as the disease.

As a parent of 3 I cant afford to send them all to a private school, but I would be willing to pay more for them to get a decent education, enrollment fees, monthly tuition, books, and pay for extracurricular activities (like when I was a child) . It could be based on income / amount of children to help those who need it. Of course, the school system would be required to perform, but I cannot see ignoring the education system any longer as it is the single most important thing for all our futures.

gqbossing : just to play devils advocate , but for those " millions of older people who don't even work in the company to pay them a salary and health insurance" you mention , who do you think will have to pick up the tab if for them when the automakers go under ?