Recession or Recalibration of Funds?

What is the definition of recession? I checked it out on wikipedia:

"A recession may involve simultaneous declines in coincident measures of overall economic activity such as employment, investment, and corporate profits. Recessions may be associated with falling prices (deflation), or, alternatively, sharply rising prices (inflation) in a process known as stagflation. A severe or long recession is referred to as an economic depression. Although the distinction between a recession and a depression is not clearly defined, it is often said that a decline in GDP of more than 10% constitutes a depression.^[2] A devastating breakdown of an economy (essentially, a severe depression, or hyperinflation, depending on the circumstances) is called economic collapse."

Why is everyone so surprised that our economy is taking a downturn? We are vary reliant on oil. Our culture has promoted the use of it without consequences for decades. Now, larger percentages of our income are being devoted to fuel costs and everyone is surprised Americans aren't spending with abandon. Bush's "Stimulus Package" is a joke. He funded part of it with a LOAN from China. I saved most of mine because I'm concerned with what is to come.

I am three generations down from depression-era ideas. I have always heard stories about my great grandparents and their fastidious scrimping, saving, and hoarding of everything that came into their possession. Reuse, recycle, and repurpose wasn't just a "green earth" fad. It was a necessity. They did it for the war, their country, and their soldiers. The government created propaganda around these ideas. People proudly participated because they believed in their country and it's place in the world.
What is the difference between then and now? We are in a war with an open-ended budget that no one wanted except Halliburton and its benefactors. A war that has alienated us from many countries and led America to look like a war-mongering, greedy, and spiteful overlord. Bush wanted retaliation for 9/11 and used it to mask his greed for oil. He thinly veiled his war with ideas of "freedom, liberating and democratizing" Iraq and searching for weapons of mass destruction.
Recently, the senate reapproved the bill that rebuked America's rights to make it easier to spy on Americans for fear of terrorism. Our telecommunications can be tapped by our government with no warrant. Way to go!
What would my great grandmother have said about this? How would she tell me to save money? Would she have supported this war? Why didn't Bush ask for the country's support? All these questions will never be answered. I'm so sad, our country has been defiled. Luckily, they haven't taken away my freedom of speech yet.