Currently I would rate our economic climate as a stagnant meltdown. It is in no way over, in fact I expect it to get even worse and yes that is possible. Our classified ads are choked with new "Notice of Trustee Sale" submissions daily. It's sad and disheartening to say the least.

Unemployment is at an all time high with bankruptcy filings coming in third. Our media would have you believe that the banking industry meltdown was brought on by subprime loans but I beg to differ. I see the recipe for our financial woes as: one part consumer ignorance, one part fraud and eight parts greed. All cooked up by the Big three automakers, lending institutions, AIG, Madoff, credit card issuers and a host of others. All of the aforementioned ingredients created a horrifying domino effect and the last piece to fall was the worker.

I want to look past all the political finger pointing and direct our attention to the most neglected in this madness; we the working public and their families that the must suffer the fallout from the bailouts. The "Joe the Plumbers" who struggle daily to make some sense out of the chaos and keep our heads above water.

Life must still go on even in the worse of times. Those of us that are able to tread the water need to make sure that we maintain our credit standing. Yes.. I know it sounds ridiculous, but the Fico scoring system is now more important than ever and I'll tell you why. I've disliked the Fico scoring system since it's implementation as a primary credit gage in the early nineties. I feel that it removed the human element from the evaluation of ones credit history and made those in the position to approve credit lazy.

The finance industries allowed this system to become the be all to end all for rating credit history and it was easily used for evil. The evil; fly by night loan programs where the only requirement was a mid Fico score of 720 and no job verification, 100% refinance and purchase loan programs with a minimum Fico score requirement of 580 and barely any employment verification performed!

Now, we suffer a knee jerk reaction to the meltdown that has lenders requiring at least a minimum Fico score of 640 to qualify for mortgage loans, auto loans, better interest rates for refinances & credit cards, home and auto insurance and employment! It still irks me to no end that the insurance industry jumped on the Fico bandwagon as yet another ploy to pick American's pockets.

All this being said, it is every individuals responsibility to monitor and maintain their creditworthiness. If you have suffered loss of income, bankruptcy, foreclosure, liens, judgments, collection accounts or suffering through a divorce all can negatively impact your credit history.

I would advise that you monitor your credit history regularly or at least every six months. Self repair your credit or enlist the aid of a credit restoration company, this is now more important than ever. We as a nation are strong and will recover from this nightmare, it's just my opinion, but be prepared, keep treading an oasis is near.