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You can skimp on the air conditioning in the summer, using fans or shade or cool drinks to keep your home and yourself comfortable. But you don't have much choice about the heat: Sweaters and blankets only go so far when temperatures get below freezing.
So it is with much more trepidation that homeowners look to the winter season, dreading the day when the furnace comes on and the utility bills jumps up. And this year there is more reason to fret than ever: Already beset with rising food costs and near-record prices at the gasoline pump, home-heating expenses are predicted to increase about 15% this winter, more if you heat with oil or natural gas.
You might have thought we would get some reprieve from soaring energy costs, what with crude oil having come down so much in the wake of a financial crisis that has sapped demand worldwide. Unfortunately, crude-oil prices don't play into the heating-bill equation anywhere near as much as they do at the gas pump. It's the weather that is more likely to be the culprit.
That means your best hope of holding down heating bills rests with El Nino and an early spring.
-- Steve Kerch, assistant managing editor/personal finance
HOME EXPENSES
Consumers will get slammed by heating bills again this winter
U.S. households already shouldering financial strains aren't likely to catch a break this winter as they prepare to dial up their thermostats. Homeowners can expect to see their heating bills jump 15% over last year, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in its annual winter heating outlook released Tuesday.
HEALTH CARE
Candidates lay out health reform but little resonates with voters
As the unemployment rate climbs in the wake of the U.S. economic crisis, health coverage is becoming a bigger issue for voters. But neither presidential candidate has staked out a health-care position that is resonating strongly with Americans -- unless they are uninsured or fear they soon could be.
Angst is rising, but many must forgo therapy
In the latest sign of the deepening economic crisis, more people are considering cutting back on their mental-health therapy, even as they become more stressed.
INVESTING
Paulson now a matinee idol as we take the fall for stupid stunts
Today's news is too hot, too juicy. "Wall Street, the Sequel," needs a new predator! A poster-boy for the arrogance, greed and incompetence of Wall Street and Washington. And "Hank the Hammer" Paulson wins hands down as the archetype of a modern global megapredator.
Black Monday for emerging markets ETFs
