When Craig asked me to write a guest post I was excited. But I was nervous at the same time. I asked him to provide me with a topic, but he responded with “surprise me”. That made me even more nervous. What if he doesn’t like it, what if his readers don’t like it, what if I don’t like it? Needless to say, I did choose a topic.

 It is not about budgeting, saving, or living a frugal life. Well, not anyone of these topics specifically, but about them in a round about way.

 We are living in rough times right now. Not as rough as they were in 1929 (The Crash of Wallstreet), or even 1979, but rough in the sense that we are in a pretty rocky economy at the moment. Banks failing, stores closing, CEO’s not proving to be the leaders their companies need, and the Government trying to fix everything.

 My topic today is two-fold. On the one side, we have the government. In my humble opinion, I think that what the Fed is doing with the bailouts is wrong. One hundred percent, totally and positively wrong.

 What does it teach? It teaches that if you mess up, and if you matter enough, Uncle Sam will help you out and just give you a little slap on the wrist. That’s the lesson. And it saddens me. Is that the lesson that we want future generations to live by? Not having to pick yourself back up and pushing through it on your own? No consequences for your actions? What if this mindset not only affected our financial structure, but our education system, or foreign affairs?

 And on the other side of the coin are you. You are living through today’s economy and you are making decisions on a day to day basis. Specifically I want to focus on financial decisions. Are you thinking like the banks? Are you acting like your decisions today will not have any consequences tomorrow? Are you spending and saving for your future or just for the present?

 I know that there are a lot of questions in this article, and most of them are not meant to be answered out loud, but instead they are meant to get you thinking. Really examine your current position. Take a reality check and make sure you are not relying on anyone but yourself to make a change in your financial future.

 What do you think? What are your thoughts on the bailouts? How are you changing your spending and saving habits so that you won’t have to rely on anyone but yourself in the future? These are questions I would love to discuss with you in the comments.