Government Bailouts and Personal Finances

I think most of us would agree that the United States has the highest standard of living in the world. We certainly do not have a problem with our level of income being sufficient to provide for our needs. We live well here and there is nothing wrong with that.

We live well but are we doing well? Government bailouts and takeovers of major businesses indicate that our finances are suspect. Foreclosures and repossessions on the individual level reflect that it is not just the corporations that have taken unwise ricks. But there are no bailouts for individuals -- no one to purchase their bad debt.

So the individual American is left to fend for himself. Is it not time for hard working Americans to stand up for themselves and stop expecting some kind of bailout from our friends in the government? We need to take our personal finances more seriously in light of recent developments.

The best defense against recession, job loss, and/or economic uncertainty is to be debt free. Sure this sounds different from what we have heard. Many financial experts told us to use other people's money to finance our way to wealth. But the days of living by that kind of advice have to come to an end.

Average Americans need to do two things: get control of our finances and create margin in our budgets. For most, once we have gotten a clear picture of where we are financially, it will be obvious that in order to correct the situation we will need to interject more money into our budgets. This cash infusion may come from increasing our income or from decreasing our expenses. One thing for sure, it will not be easy because both will call for discipline and sacrifice.

Our heritage is one of discipline and sacrifice so though the road ahead might be rough, I am confident that the American spirit will prevail. We will individually and cooperately take the steps necessary to free ourselves from the tyranny of debt so that once again we will be a shining example to the world of freedom and properity.