Obama just signed the $787 billion stimulus into law, which will provde tax cuts, create and asave jobs, and hopefully help the country become financially stable again.  With the signing, Obama has launched an user-friendly website, Recovery.gov which will outline exactly where all this money is going.

I recently watched the Oprah show that featured thrifty guests who were creating money-saving alternatives to the failing economy.  Beyond coupon cutting and edible gifts, the most interesting, I found, were those who developed a barter system between friends and businesses.  The exchanges ranged from relatively small to large.  Two friends exchange couches, rather than spending money on new ones for their living room; one family trades their home with another family; one woman offers to teach aerobic classes in exchange for a free gym membership, one dance studio owner accepts restaurant dinners from a student rather than monthly payments.  I never would have before thought of alternative forms of payments to businesses.  But I am, no doubt, excited to learn that more and more people and businesses are helping themselves and others through financial challenges.

I wonder how far and how long this barter system could extend.

What are you doing to save money during this financial crisis?

Read the full article and learn more money-saving tips from the show.

Government bailouts are all over the news lately - and everyone seems to have something to say about it.  Here are a few different looks at the situation and where we go from here.

Basics:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bailout

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bail_out_(finance)

http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.com/2008/09/bailout-proposal.html

Stories:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/14/fed-and-rival-bail-out-be_n_91557.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/PersonalFinance/story?id=5805783&page=1

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/business/17insure.html

Commentaries:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/23/paul.bailout/index.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/opinion/16tue1.html?_r=2&th=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&emc=th&adxnnlx=1222181492-L12g8m+dDiFdzCo+2DG0+A