With food and fuel costs soaring and the financial costs of global warming becoming reality, a new cure-all prescription has emerged: The average American should eat less.

And with a new University of Illinois report forecasting even higher food prices next year, the suggestion could become an inevitable way of life for people on tight budgets. It would of course have the added benefit of trimming waistlines and improving health, which would provide additional savings in reduced health care costs.

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The next generation of new cars and trucks will need to meet a fleet average of 31.6 miles per gallon by 2015, the Bush administration proposed Tuesday, seeking more fuel-efficient vehicles in the face of high gasoline prices and concerns over global warming.

Transportation Secretary Mary Peters outlined the plan on Earth Day, setting a schedule that was more aggressive than expected by the auto industry.

It responds to a new energy law that requires new cars and trucks, taken as a collective average, to meet 35 mpg by 2020.

Oil prices settled at a record high for the third day in a row on Wednesday. Prices spiked to a record $115.07 a barrel in midday trading, after a government report showed an unexpected crude supply drop.

U.S. light sweet crude for May delivery settled at $114.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In the short term, momentum could push crude prices higher still, according to Brian Hicks, co-manager of the Global Resources Fund at U.S. Global Investors.

Crude oil prices rose to a new record high above $113 a barrel Tuesday as the U.S. dollar weakened further against the euro.

Light, sweet crude for May delivery rose to a new trading high of $113.93 a barrel in early morning electronic trading. The previous high of $112.21 was set April 9.

Oil settled at a record closing high of $111.76 a barrel on Monday.

"The path to $115 is cleared," said Stephen Schork, publisher of the oil trading newsletter The Schork Report.
Ringing dollar bell

President George W. Bush will not tap the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to ease oil prices that hit a record high of $100 a barrel on Wednesday, the White House said.

"This president will not use the SPR to manipulate (oil prices)," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. "Doing a temporary release of the SPR is not going to change prices very much."

Perino said the Bush administration understood that high energy prices hurt family budgets and small businesses, but it believes that using the emergency oil stockpile to lower crude prices is not the solution.

Crude oil rose to $100 a barrel for the first time in New York as record global fuel consumption threatens to outpace production.

Oil's gain, extending last year's 57 percent rally, was boosted by forecasts that U.S. stockpiles dropped to a three-year low last week. Unrest in Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, also spurred prices.

Congress is poised to finally make cars get better gas mileage. Consumers can expect to pay more for their vehicles but save on their gas bills.

More hybrids. More diesels. Smaller engines and fancier technology. And an initial sticker price increase that could total a couple thousand dollars.

Those are the likely outcomes now that Congress has decided to increase the national fuel efficiency standards to 35 miles a gallon by 2020, from the current average of 25.

Pricey crude hurts in all sorts of fiscal ways—but it could also spur crucial investment in alternative fuels

As speculative fervor continues to test the $100 mark, fears that expensive oil could spur inflation and cripple consumer spending is spreading. Pricey oil—coupled with the subprime crash, shaky credit markets, Wall Street turbulence, tensions with Iran and a feeble dollar—could be the catalyst that topples the U.S. economy into recession.

The White House is threatening to veto any energy bill that seeks to raise taxes on oil companies.

President Bush's senior advisers will recommend he veto any energy bill that raises taxes or uses the tax code to "single out specific industries," Allan Hubbard, director of the National Economic Council, said in a letter sent late Monday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Reacting to Hubbard's letter today, House Democrats vowed not to back down, paving the way for a confrontation over energy policy this fall.