Bill you would not believe the mileage I do.......I have to fill up at least once a week sometimes twice....some gigs are in excess of 100 miles away.....the average is about 60 miles round trip..The UK may be small in comparison to USA but we do travel far and often....I checked the stats and the average UK person (non business) drives about 11k miles a year...similar stats apply according to USA figures....some commuters travel much more distance as house prices in the city are too expensive....so they buy a house in the country and commute to work by car.

Johnny I am with you 100% on waste.......BUT that is a problem worldwide and is not just restricted to government waste.....if you want to see waste then look at some of the private companies......they could teach the government how to waste time money and resources big time. Re cost of living I think that according to stats things cost much less in the USA than here in UK...HOWEVER.....we possibly earn more actual cash but have to spend more....works out about the same living standards in the long run.