The July 4th Report: Yeah, We're In a Recession

As the United States celebrates its 232nd birthday with parades, barbecues, baseball, fireworks and people like me exercising their right of free speech, it's time to look back on the first half of 2008.

Wars are still being fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, with no agreement on how to gracefully get out. Oh, and there's the small matter of capturing the man the government believes made all this necessary in the first place.

The presidential campaign has come down to two senators, a young African-American man from Illinois and an old soldier from Arizona. When they're not sniping over the quality of each other's patriotism, they have yet to convince voters of the substance behind the promises they made in order to get elected.

Gas prices are now over $4 a gallon, which is being blamed in part on oil speculators and rising demand in China and India. Since oil is so integral to the nation's economy, an ingredient in almost everything we buy, the price of goods and services goes up. Plans are afoot to develop new energy sources that are more environmentally friendly, but nobody's come up with a better (and cheaper) alternative to oil.

Foreclosures are another reason why the American economy is down. Never mind people who tried to pay for those McMansions they couldn't afford to live in. It's the people who can't find a place to live in, period.

The so-called "experts" disagree on whether or not we're in a recession. If you're unemployed, lose your house, and are trying to decide if paying for groceries is more important than filling up the tank, then yeah, we're in a recession.

The catastrophic flooding that recently hit the Midwest had us wondering: If a disaster occurs in a part of the country with no major cities, a mostly homogenous population that hasn't been scattered around, and no civil unrest that we know of, does it make a sound? We know two places: the grocery store and the convenience store, where corn prices just went through the roof.

So enjoy your hot dogs, ballgames and fireworks displays this weekend. Just remember how much you ended up spending on them to boost America's economy.