ATM's, what a great idea.

The ATM is especially appropriate given the bank bailout. They were Wesley Mouches of the worst kind.

I believe people perceive fuel as a more significant cost because they stare at the dollars being spent for a minute. Suppose fuel went up $2/gallon. This would cost the average person driving 1000 miles/mo in a 25mpg car an extra $80/mo. This is down in the noise for people with good incomes. For people near poverty, all kinds of $80 hiccups in life problems. We only think about gas b/c we stare at it.

Imagine all taxes were done the same way. You put a card in and watched the money tick up for one minute. I think this simple fact would cause taxes to be cut in half. People hate going and watching $40 count up once a week. Imagine if they also had to watch hundreds of dollars count up. It would be the same the amts withheld on paychecks or sent in with 1040-ES. You'd just have to watch it. It would change everything.