Financial woes...

I just wanted to vent a little on all of the price hikes going on. Just when Stevie and I were doing well for ourselves, the gas price began to rise. After the gas was groceries and so on and so on. I know that we are not the only family struggling to get through the week due to the "recession" that the government says we aren't in yet. Well I got news for them, the upper class may not be in a recession yet but us middle to lower class are. I hate the fact that everything revolves around the rich leaving the rest of us to just suffer. I realize things are probably getting difficult for people in all classes but most upper class people have something to fall back on, a savings account, equity line etc, I have already used all of mine up and we aren't even in a recession yet. There has got to be something the government can do. The stimulus plan was a nice start and a great attempt however most people I know had to use the money to catch up on bills they were behind on. So there wasn't any money left to go shopping to stimulate the economy. And I got very little because one of my children was 17 before Jan 1 and apparently he doesn't count. Why is that? I had to feed him, clothe him, house him etc. Actually he costs more to raise than the younger ones. It is so frustrating. My house payment is late, my bank account keeps getting overdrawn (which means fees) and our paychecks are spent before we even get them. Ashlei's wedding has cost a quite a bit as well but we truly have scrimped and scrimped on the details. I am the photographer/cake baker, her uncle is performing the ceremony, the wedding is being held on her family's land, Nate's mom bought burgers and hot dogs for the reception, another family member is bringing the soda, she is wearing my old dress and her aunts wedding accessories. We made our own invitations and programs. Another aunt is donating the flowers and we are using a stereo for the music. So it's not like we went overboard, but we still had to rent chairs and tables, buy decorations, rent tuxes etc. Unfortunately, all of that stuff costs more money than it should because people are always looking to take advantage of you knowing you want a perfect wedding day. SO now that we are all broke and stressed out, we will try desperately to just enjoy ourselves on Saturday and worry about everything else on Monday. I really would just like a straight answer to the question, "why can't anyone do anything about the gas prices?" Thanks for letting me vent, I just had to get it out! I am a very positive person and I truly believe that everything will be OK. It is just so frustrating sometimes. "1 step forward, 2 steps back" I guess we all just have to hang in there and pray.