America's Money: Gas crunch hits home

Dump truck driver, 49, Manheim, Pa.
I own and drive a dump truck for a living. In recent years we've been able to raise our rates to mostly compensate for the increased fuel prices because there's been a fair amount of work in my area... until now.

There is not enough work to go around and contractors are bidding jobs, in some cases, to not even make a profit. So guess who's eating $4.65 a gallon fuel?

I laugh at the worry about $4 gas. Heck, we've been over $4 for diesel for months. Instead of buying maybe $14,000 in fuel this year, it'll be well over $20,000. Many days, $20-plus per hour goes to fuel.

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