continued recession

This country (and moreover, the world) is definitely in a recession, and I see it first-hand. I wonder how much worse things can get? I received my student loan money this past week so I have a very false sense of security right now. I was also given two lines of credit, one of which was already more than doubled after only two payments. Its strange that banks are continuing to just throw credit cards out there like nothing. I don't have the greatest credit in the world, but I'm working on it. I just didn't think in this time of crisis for the entire world that I would get all this credit offered to me.

And then last night, I was a bit shocked when I passed by a gas station on my way home from work. The price had dropped down to $1.58 a gallon. I don't remember the last time I paid that price. It had to have been a few years back. Needless to say, I whipped my Jeep into the station and filled up my tank for only $22. Wow. I just read that oil prices per barrel are at their lowest since May of 2005, and they are expected to keep slipping bit by bit. Gas/oil prices have been dropping every single day for literally 65 days straight, when I was paying over $4 in Cleveland for a gallon.

I have already noticed the impact the prices are having on my restaurant. Yes, it may be getting closer to the holidays so more people are out, but I knew that if gas prices kept dropping, people would come back to eat again. And they did, at first. They just weren't tipping very well at all. I was actually kind of shocked to be getting the horrible tips I was receiving. Now, things are changing. People have gotten back to throwing their money at me, which is such a good feeling. Restaurants and eating out are one of the first things to get cut out of a budget in tough times, and the first to come back full force once things begin to get better. But nothing else is really getting better... banks are still closing, automakers are on the verge of a collapse, and the housing market is so bad that people aren't even putting for-sale signs in their yards anymore; no one is out there to buy them.

With all this extra money in our wallets, I think people will begin to spend a bit more... but what happens when this drives the demand for oil back up? It seems like a vicious circle, because gas prices will go back up. Then no one will have extra money again. Demand will go back down. Repeat. And repeat. And repeat. I just really wonder what will happen to our world in the near future, and how the hell anyone will be able to fix it, if fixing is even an option.