Gas Prices: Another Silver Lining

The NYT via Atrios: For car-loving American teenagers, this is turning out to be the summer the cruising died.... [For] decades, cruising on Friday and Saturday nights has been a teenage rite of passage. It is a peculiarly American phenomenon—driving around in a big loop, listening to music, waving at one another and wasting gasoline. “We’re not cruising around anymore, with gas costing $4.50 a gallon,” said Ewelina Smosna, a recent graduate of Taft High School in Chicago, as she hung out the other night at the Streets of Woodfield, an outdoor mall in Schaumburg. “We just park the car and walk around.” According to police officers in towns like Elkhart, Ind.; Grand Haven, Mich.; and Mount Pleasant, S.C., traffic has dropped markedly on cruise nights. People moving back into cities, greater demand (and political suport) for... [read full story]