The core values of the confident, adventurous American are not seen in many with the present state of the economy. Americans are cutting back like never before. High gasoline prices have Americans drastically changing their transportation habits. Consumers have seen fuel prices rapidly rise to over four dollars per gallon, and they expect they will continue to increase. These ever rising gas prices are making for messy divorces between consumers and Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) as gas guzzlers are being traded in (at a considerably decreased value) for more fuel-efficient automobiles.

Even with the shift to more economical automobiles, the use of private personal transportation has been curtailed for anything other than short distances. The resulting surge in public transportation has some cities facing overburdened and aging infrastructure concerns. The Federal Highway Administration estimates that U.S. drivers logged 11 billion fewer miles this year than a year ago. Those figures represent a 4.3 percent national drop and the biggest ever year-over-year reduction in miles driven.