I grew up in the "duck and cover" generation and it wasn't pretty. As a child, learning and singing the words to Bert's song, held little joy and a lot of anxiety. Our kindergarten day started with the teacher leading us in both sing and acting out:

There was a turtle by the name of Bert

And Bert the turtle was very alert;

When danger threatened him, he never got hurt

He knew just what to do...

He ducked! And covered!

Ducked! [And covered! He did what we all must learn to do

You!

And you!

And you!

And you!'

Duck, and cover!'

For those of you who are younger, this cartoon form of brainwashing, was the norm during the cold war era (late 1940s and 1950s and even early 1960s). The film's purpose was to teach children to duck down low, in-case the atomic bomb or a hydrogen bomb, was dropped on us. This era of fear was a sign of those times. It went far beyond daily school drills, when:

• People built bomb shelters (fallout shelters);
• Communities held emergency preparedness talks;
• Disaster planning was a dinner time topic;
• Disaster supplies were gathered routinely;
• Emergency preparedness wasn't just for Boy-scouts.

At home, I had a double reason for always being afraid. My dad was one of the hysterical minority, that took the emergency preparedness concepts to the extreme. Our childhood realities were rooted in the fact that:

• He built a bomb shelter in our backyard;
• He conducted late night disaster survival drills, by timing how long it took us to wake up, get out of bed, and run to the shelter in the dark (Mind you, this included rounding up our two dogs who thought this was a fine game);
• He taught disaster preparedness and disaster survival at the dinner table and at our local community college.

Much like Chicken Little, the sky seemed to always be falling in my father's eyes. Who could blame him? He was a child of the Depression, so he knew first hand about hunger and being homelessness Then, as a young man in the Air Force, he had been present for the atomic bomb testing in 1945. No doubt, the following year, when he was on one of the planes that photographed the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 -- he had some lasting impressions of the awfulness that seemed to be lurking around every political corner.

You begin to wonder if the financial sky is falling when you consider:

• The energy crisis;
• The price of gas;
• The price of food;
• Foreclosures all around you;
• The price of everything else skyrocketing;
• Airline's no longer being numerous and the ones remaining charging for every little thing......

Then, suddenly it seems everywhere you look:

• Businesses are either for sale, closed up, or changed hands;
• Your neighbor was laid off;
• The guy across the street moved out in the middle of the night;
• Cable and satellite TV companies are now billing you two months in advance;
• The satellite TV company that you switched from to another, could come out to install the equipment -- but now, you get to uninstall it from the roof and mail it back to them or be billed for the equipment;
• Telephone companies are now billing you two months in advance;
• The homeless begging on the major intersections are no longer just broken men, more and more we are seeing women.

Now personally, it didn't bother me too much when the local Star Bucks closed down (I don't drink coffee). Additionally, here in the land of tourism, we could do without quite so many choices in where to eat or shop. Now there are less Linen's n' Things, Steak and Ale's, and Bennigans, but this isn't nearly as distressing as what I noticed next because:

That gut feeling I had as a child, peaking out from under my school desk, came out the other day when I went to pay our utility bill. Now, I am worried about America, as we knew it, more than ever.

At our local utility company, people were lined up clear outside the door to make arrangements to delay, partially pay, get their services reconnected, or make other special arrangements with their utility bill. I'd never seen so many people looking desperate.

I don't know if it works the same in other areas, but here you pay the local electric company for all of your utilities. So, your bill can seem larger than life when you consider it is the electric, water, recycled gray water, trash pick up, and sewage -- all rolled into one bill.

Added to that, are all sorts of assessment fees, and taxes. Failure to pay by the 7th day after the due date, results in cut-off. There is no such thing as a utility bill being more than a week old, before that reality happens.

Therefore, it was more than a little shocking to receive the printed handout. It seems that our county is going to save over $520,000 a year by closing down the customer service department. Moreover, all of the employees that normally wait on customers are out of a job.

Now, if you prefer to pay your bill in person or have a problem, you will have no one you can talk to face-to-face. However, rest assured -- you can call them on the phone. We all know of course what that means -- that we're going to be locked into that timeless American tradition, of talking to a computer, or be put on hold by that computer.

If you want a receipt (as I do) for paying your utility bill, you get to go to your nearest Amscot Payday Loan Corporation-- and it costs your utility company an extra dollar for the privilege of taking your money and gifting you a receipt! The utility company assures us that they are paying the $1, but who do they think they are kidding? Their $1 comes from us, the customers.

I will concede that these places are a necessary evil, and a Godsend if your back is against the wall in a short term financial emergency when you have no other options. However, they are not the safest places in the world to be visiting.

Just check out who often hangs out in some of their parking lots and the human dramas inside of these businesses. There is a reason the workers are behind bullet proof glass! There is a reason why they are located in poorer parts of neighborhoods.

If that new development wasn't bad enough, a few days later we received a letter from our local utility company that read:

"We are informing you that a recent audit of our records indicates that you are eligible (like this is an award or something?) for a deposit increase."

You see, here in Florida where people move in and out of state constantly. You have a security deposit on your utilities, at an amount fixed at two times the average monthly bill. So apparently, despite the fact that you pay you bill on time every month -- they feel the need to collect even more security deposits as they regularly increase your bills.

Our increase amounts to $320.00 that we will be billed for next month on top of our regular bill!

It kind of makes you feel like every business entity you deal with these days is doing anything and everything to get even more money from you and you have to wonder why?

All of this got me wondering, "What Would Bert Do?"

I think, like his theme song, he'd be telling us to be alert and:

1. Get busy with personal financial emergency preparedness;
2. Plan for natural disasters;
3. Plan for economic crisis;
4. Plan for long term disaster survival;
5. Lay in disaster supplies;
6. Do your part in cutting back on energy use and consumption.

I'm not one to be running around like Chicken Little, but maybe you agree, it's time to take a step back and brace ourselves, because maybe the worst is yet to come.

If you have experienced a financial disaster there are a number of things to do to get back on track:

• Get back to normal routines as much as possible.
• Seek emergency housing.
• Seek emergency funds.
• Secure any remaining property.
• Notify your insurance company.
• Collect or replicate any important documents that you may need.
• Seek special disaster relief monies.
• Check with employer for advances or cashing in leave time.
• Borrow from your 401k.
• Cash out insurance policies if possible.
• Sell any remaining personal property.
• Check out any private, non-profit, and government loans or grants that may be available.
• Look for ways to boost income.
• Reduce any expenses you can.
• Consider retraining in another field, if the disaster has also meant loss of your job.