As economic stimulus checks arrive, relieved households are spending them on gas, food and bills, thwarting the government's intention.

That's because we have a problem that a $600 check can't fix -- our values.

Let's start with gas. Despite the transfusion of corn-based ethanol, gas prices at the pump continue to break records, approaching $4 a gallon. While experts say it's more due to crude oil prices than refinery shortages, the point is the problem hasn't been fixed and isn't going to be fixed.

Demand continues, because our lifestyles are based largely on the use of automobiles.

We don't want to admit it, but suburban sprawl happened because of white flight. White flight caused inner city schools and neighborhoods to suffer, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Now it's fashionable to embrace diversity -- except in schools. Suburban homebuyers want better schools for their kids, but only if white people are running them.

The real estate industry supports white flight by basing housing prices on what homebuyers say they want -- better schools, but the result is a tacit agreement that insures neighborhoods with white-dominated schools will appreciate. The flip side is that ethnically diverse neighborhoods and schools suffer because they lack the snobbish enthusiasm and support of white parents.

To get more for their money, homeowners are driving further and further, and they still don't feel safe. They drive SUVs that look like tanks. All that's missing are gun turrets.

And now, they can't afford the gas to run these behemoths. The operating costs of McMansions and Hummers are outweighing the benefits of suburban living.

There's less time with their families, because it's being eaten away in increasingly longer commutes. And the irony is -- they didn't escape the problems that comes along with diversity. Their kids are doing drugs and joining gangs, too. Look at the gang of young men who were arrested for murder in La Jolla recently. The Bird Rock Bandits all came from good families, yet they beat another young man to death for spilling a beer on one of their members.

Now, the worst is happening -- homes further from central business districts are losing value faster than homes close to work centers.

To turn this economy around, we need more than a economic stimulus bandaid. We need to stimulate our values.

We need to stop blaming diversity for our problems. We need to stop running and stand and fight for the quality of life in the city where 85 percent of the U.S. population lives. We need community and business volunteers to pitch in and help the schools. We need to pay teachers what they deserve.

And we need for the real estate industry to recognize that it's not their job to steer anyone away from mixed-race neighborhoods using schools as the excuse.

And while we're at it -- stop growing corn for gasoline consumption.