A few months ago who would ever believed that one would bethrilled to see gasoline dropping below $3.60 per gallon! Afterdancing around $4.00 in June, oil prices have been falling steadilyfor the past few weeks, resulting in lower prices at the pump!

Friday’s $4.82 drop in oil prices should lower gas prices evenmore in the next few days. While we all are breathing a sigh ofrelief, we have to remember, in the world we live today, prices canrise again very quickly.

Despite all the opinions on why oil prices climbed and have nowdropped, the one thing that is certain is that as a country we usemore oil than we produce. If we learned anything in the past yearit is that the good ole USA no longer controls the world economy.The actions of others dramatically affect us here at home where ithurts the most – the pocketbook.

In the last few months, we have all learned to conserve gasolineby driving less, walking, slowing down and planning ahead.

So while we all enjoy these new lower gasoline prices, itbehooves us as a nation to find a solution to our dependency onpetroleum-based products. T. Boone Pickens, a Texan who made hisfortune drilling for oil, in recent weeks has been promoting a planto reduce our dependency. You can visit his Web site atwww.pickensplan.com to find more details.

We will not pretend to know that Mr. Pickens solutions arecorrect, but we do know that he is creating a discussion that is onthe right track.