There are other factors people need to consider..

When the price of oil goes up, is it because the oil is now more valuable or is it because the dollar is less valuable?

By definition a recession is the decline of the GDP. Based off how we measure the GDP we are not in a recession. Are we measuring our GDP correctly? Does government involvements in the market distort the market? What are the consequences of that?

Finally.. is a recession something the average American should even worry about?

Our government can tax us in two ways. We can face direct taxes that we see immediately, and those direct taxes are not popular. No one likes a politicion that raises taxes. The other way our government can tax us is to print more money. Inflation is a tax because it makes our money worth less.

Inflation causes people to not want to save, which lowers the capital, which puts pressure on the fed reserve to create more capital out of thin air in order to stimulate the economy, which leads to bad investments and bubbles, the market corrects itself..

Not a perfect example, but enlightening to people who do not know a lot about economics. Look at prices. The price of gold(ounce) in 2001 was around $275 and the price of oil(barrel) was about $25. Right now oil is at $134 and gold is $901.

Gold is 327% more expensive while oil is 536% more expensive. I'm not suggesting that our dollar be backed 100% by gold, but if it was... oil would currently cost $81.75 a barrel instead of $134. There is another factor causes the oil price to be artificially high right now, but I don't want to go off on that right now.. maybe later.

Bernanke said on 11-08-2007 "If somebody has their wealth in dollars and they are going to buy consumer goods in dollars than as a typical American they um the decline in the dollar, the only effect it has on their buying power is that it makes imported goods more expensive."

That man should be fired. What can you buy that is not imported or relies on something that is imported? Imagine buying locally grown eggs. The farmer is going to have to import goods to run that farm. The person who delivers the eggs to the store is going to rely on imported goods and fuel to accomplish that. The store you buy the eggs from is going to rely on imported goods to run the store. If the lightbulbs at your supermarket rely on imported goods in any way than your eggs will cost more. I hope no imported goods were used to deliver electricity to the store or the farm...