Is it a recession just because you can't borrow money?

I've been reading a lot today about the recession, rising oil prices, loss of jobs, and people not being able to get credit to buy stuff. Gas is getting really expensive. People cannot fund their lives by refinancing their homes every five years. Companies are cutting their lowest level employees because they cannot afford to pay them. Overall, I think things are going very well.

Gas SHOULD be very expensive. It is a precious resource and if the only way to get us to treat it as such it to raise the price, then bring on the four dollar gallon. The more expensive it is, the more individuals will be compelled to create viable alternatives and technologies. Hopefully, before we blow each other up or poison the food stream beyond repair.

Mortgages SHOULD get paid off, not perpetually re-financed. I'm delighted to hear that the "purchasing power" of the average US citizen is diminishing. I am sick of all the buying buying buying being percieved as a sign of national fiscal health. Smells more like disease to me.

When enough people get laid off, voices will be raised that address the issue of income disparity in our workforce. Top executives can clear seven figures. Our minimum wage is $6.55/hour. That's roughly $13,000 per year, before taxes. Give me a break! Another couple of months with layoffs in the thousands (of mostly hourly wage-earning employees) and we'll start seeing a bunch of people yelling about it. Really loudly. Which is a good start.

And woven through all this is the undeniable feeling that everyone knows something is not right with our system. We're all getting the idea that war does not solve things, that lots of poor people stuck together in one place is a bad idea, climate change is affecting our society, we can't work the growth model indefinitely, our government has no clue what it is doing, stuff like that. WE ARE SICK and I love it that the symptoms are so completely undeniable.

I have this image of America, covered in bruises and welts, oozing plastic, stinking of hate, and crushed under huge SUV's. Stumbling into an emergency room only to be denied treatment because she doesn't have the right insurance. This is when evolution happens- when it gets so bad that people are compelled to take action.