State of the Union

My concern for the state of the Union has been steadily increasing. My husband and I make a pretty good living, we have a modest house, with modest vehicles, and have been able to always eat, and fill our cars up with fuel, and still have a bit of money left for a bit of entertainment (such as camping!)
But recently, we have had to really start cutting back, using coupons, and not going to a campground in Oklahoma because it is too far to drive with fuel prices the way they are.
Here is the point I am getting at. We…a two income family with no children are starting to feel the real pinch of the prices at the pump which in turn have raised the price of almost everything. Some things significantly.
What are families doing that were already living paycheck to paycheck?
They are not getting paid any more at work, and some of them do not have that little cushion that they can just do without. They are having to choose whether to fill up the car with fuel so they can go to their job, or feed their kids dinner.
This is what I am concerned about. All the higher ups in the country say…”this is not a recession, we have not hit that level yet…” What do we have to see to hit a recession “level”?
Perhaps I am not as up to date on the true state of the economy, but I am worried about those that are less fortunate than my family, yet now that I have had to use any extra income I did have on needs rather than wants, I do not have that much left to give to others. I still have my weekly pay check deduction that I give to United Way, but I have very little else to give. I am now living paycheck to paycheck.
So when there is the most need for support, there is the least to give.
The food banks are crying for people to give, yet people are struggling to feed their own families, so the usual people who always give, no longer can, and the people who really need help have no where to go.
I am admittedly a little ignorant of the whole Fannie May, Freddie Mac thing, and how the government spending all that money to take over helps us, and perhaps it was the best move out there for families to keep their homes, but pretty soon they are not going to be able to keep them anyway if we don’t quit what we are doing as a country and focus on getting alternate methods of fuel, what ever happened to 100% solar cars? I know that we could not drive too far at night, but for those that could have a “commute” car that was all solar would save so many natural resources.
If we can come up with new ideas every month on new fangled things for our cell phones, and ipods, why don’t we focus these creative intelligent people on finding a way to get rid of our dependency on oil.
And if someone of something is standing in our way, who is allowing these companies to have that much power?
Just electing the right president is not going to fix this.
We have a country where we are free, yet we are still shackled by our government and their choices.