What to do in these hard economic times?

Your marriage isn't long enough to make it a sure permanent alimony case, but it isn't short enough to rule that out, either.  If your wife has marketable job skills and could get a full-time job, it's likely that whatever the court would do, would be based on the assumption that she does go out and get full-time work;  this is called "imputing income" to someone who is volutarily unemployed or, as it seems like in your wife's case, underemployed.  You'd also have to pay child support, and probably some child care expenses if the children are younger.