Turn on any big news channel right now. Chances are, the story is either about Barack Obama, John McCain, Sarah Palin or the economy.

It’s been this way for weeks now. I’ve grown bored with CNN, my favorite channel, because I’ve heard the same version of every story for the last two months now with slight word order alterations.

The economy sucks.<br/>While many would say you either have to be knocking on retirement's door or spending all your time on Wall Street and your money on stocks to really feel the pain of it, I think most would disagree.While many would say you either have to be knocking on retirement's door or spending all your time on Wall Street and your money on stocks to really feel the pain of it, I think most would disagree.<br/>I don't know a single person who has been lucky enough to get to this point in our financial history unscathed. Most have cut spending at least a little in order to ensure they aren't going to go broke.I don't know a single person who has been lucky enough to get to this point in our financial history unscathed. Most have cut spending at least a little in order to ensure they aren't going to go broke.
While many would say you either have to be knocking on retirement’s door or spending all your time on Wall Street and your money on stocks to really feel the pain of it, I think most would disagree.
I don’t know a single person who has been lucky enough to get to this point in our financial history unscathed. Most have cut spending at least a little in order to ensure they aren’t going to go broke.

Everyone from Mr. Stock Market to Joe the Plumber is looking back wondering, “However did we get here?”

The truth is, everyone is a little bit to blame, myself included.

How often do people buy things when they don’t really have the money?

It’s like our national motto has become, “Go ahead, buy it! You’ll have the money eventually, right?” Think about it, Americans go to the mall, find something we really want but that’s really expensive and what do we do?

We don’t turn away once we realize we don’t have a big wad of cash in our pockets.

We don’t reach for our checkbook because we remember we don’t have enough in the bank either.

We swipe that plastic card, void of any real money, and hope that when the bill comes at the end of the month that enough money to make a minimum payment will have magically appeared somewhere in our lives.<br/>Or, when we go to buy a house or a car, and we don't really have the money. Instead of finding something more within our price range, we take out a loan and hope we are good for it.Or, when we go to buy a house or a car, and we don't really have the money. Instead of finding something more within our price range, we take out a loan and hope we are good for it.
Or, when we go to buy a house or a car, and we don’t really have the money. Instead of finding something more within our price range, we take out a loan and hope we are good for it.

It’s not like we’ve had the best example set for us.

We have an issue with another country (the actual issue is still up for interpretation) so we go to war with them. We don’t necessarily have the money to pay for it, so we borrow money from other countries to pay the bills, hoping that by the time we have to pay the bills we have the money.

We assume that we will be able to pay off the bills. In reality, we aren’t always sure.

It’s not a good everyday spending strategy, and it’s not a good foreign policy.

Let’s hope this little economic crisis will teach us a big lesson. Don’t spend money you don’t have.

Instead of swiping our credit cards every time we see something we want but don’t have the money for, we should wait until we have the money.

Instead of taking out a larger load than necessary, we should settle for a house that is more within our price range, even if it means that it wouldn’t be “Cribs” worthy.

With the exceptions of the unfortunate ones who either got kicked out of their homes or the ones who lost everything in the stock market, things aren’t that bad for average Americans.

Sure, we’re starting to save more than we spend, but that’s actually for the best.

If anything else, we’re learning the difference between need and want.