Got An Extra...

...Heavy Duty Sleeping Bag? One Merrill Lynch economist (is that an oxymoron?) thinks heating bills might burn a hole in your pocket this winter:

“The federal government is going to have to step in and heavily subsidize this winter,” Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association, told EnergyTechStocks.com last month. NAEDA represents the state directors of the federal government’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). President Bush cut LIHEAP funding and, despite experts’ dire warnings, the U.S. may enter the winter heating season with less money available to help people than last year.