My family budget is already tightening. I cringe every time I drive by a gas station, thinking I should fill up before the price goes up again. I already take public transportation (those fares have increased, too). We’ve reduced going out to eat. I plan my routes and don’t take unnecessary trips. It’s getting harder to save. My local government is raising property taxes, and the schools have cut back on planned programs. There was talk of cutting the bus to my daughter’s school, but that didn’t happen this time. The state coffers are running dry too, and the legislature is considering new fees.

Maybe my family needs to eat something else for breakfast.

As explain in tonight's "Green Options" report, this type of ethanol is brewed from the tough, fibrous material of leftover plant material. We're talking about sugar cane stalks, wood chips and bark, specially grown types of grasses, or even yard waste.

The people I talked to today see more of the same, flat or just above in terms of sales and growth through the summer, with improvement by the fourth quarter.

According to First American CoreLogic LoanPerformance databases, as of February 2008, 66% of subprime ARM loans had already reset and 40% of prime ARM loans had already reset.

Excluding financials, results for S&P 500 firms were up over 7-percent, in line with the long-term historic average for the market as a whole. And, although profits at financial firms fell 79% in the first quarter, that’s still better than the fourth quarter -- when the sector lost money.

Consumer Discretionary was the only other negative sector. It fell 23%. Some sectors, like energy and consumer staples, actually rose double digits.

For my "Green Options" story (which will be broadcast this Thursday, May 15th), I met with a scientist-turned-businessman who is also talking trash when it comes to ethanol – but in a good way. His company Zymetis grows a bacterium that basically eats up waste materials – scrap paper, woodchips, cellulose fibers from waste streams – and spits out ethanol. So instead of using food to generate ethanol, Zymetis uses trash.

Bioengineered crops set off a storm of controversy. Environmental groups said the crops could be a health hazard and labeled them "Frankenfood." Gmo seeds were banned in most countries and many U.S. farmers were slow to adopt them. But, the global attitude towards genetically altered crops is changing.

This year the National Corn Growers Association estimates between 75 and 80 percent of the corn planted in the U.S. will be gmo. Monsanto, one of the largest producers of seeds, says genetically altered seeds are now planted in the largest agriculture producing countries in the world. And, the European Union is expected to vote on a plan soon that would allow farmers in member countries to plant genetically modified crops for the first time.

Today I am trying to offer a more detailed look at where things stand.

The result is my new housing cheat sheet. Use it to impress your friends better than I did. But be careful: if you get known as the housing expert, you will be expected to offer updates at every dinner party you attend.

To paraphrase a former GM Chairman, I figured that whatever is good for America is good for NBR. So I suggested that we produce a series aimed at the millions of Americans who would soon be retiring -- and who would also be facing lots of crucial financial decisions. The FINRA Investor Education Foundation* saw this as an area of critical need and graciously agreed to fund the project. Then US News and World Report came on board, adding its expertise and reporting capabilities to our own.

I can relate to this group of people, especially when I’m sitting quietly at my second job (which happens to be a university library). It’s in those quiet moments when it hits me how bad the economy really is.

Usually I tune out, but lately I’ve picked up on peoples’ conversations around me. I listen to their frustrations about how hard it is to make it these days. These people range in age from millenials to baby boomers and from entry level to well established professionals.

No one knows for sure what the fickle U.S. consumer will do. But, I felt they would be more likely to spend it rather than save it. Sure, there are the rising costs for basic necessities like milk and cereal. But, I thought it would be more likely that our shop-till-you-drop American culture would result in spending on discretionary items…mainly flat screen TVs and ipods.

But, recently, I have changed my mind.

On the one hand, you get the "serves us right crowd." You know the argument: We deserve to pay $4 a gallon, because we drive big cars and haven't been serious about energy conservation for, oh, the last 20 years. Cutting the gas tax or slapping a windfall profits tax on oil companies would be silly since everything in this market is driven by supply and demand.

On the other hand, you find the "birthright crowd." These folks basically argue that gas was a dollar a gallon when they were kids and it should be $1 a gallon now. We deserve cheap gas, because it is so important. If only we drilled enough, cut taxes enough or pressured OPEC enough things would return to "normal."

That’s because May through October is typically the weakest six months of the year for stocks.

According to the Stock Traders Almanac, since 1950, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained an average of 0.5% in the May 1 - October 31 period. That’s a lot less than the average of 7.9% the index has gained in the November 1 - April 30th period. The Almanac takes it a step further, with a six month investment switching strategy: