You can call it a recession, financial downturn, economic slowdown, or whatever you’d like. But the fact is, millions of Americans are feeling the pinch. Rising food and gas costs, coupled with a devalued dollar, are destroying budgets. So where can people turn when they run out of money, and the bills are due?

They turn to the easily available, yet financially dangerous, money from their credit cards. It’s a short term fix, but a long term problem.

I apologize for the for the inconsistent posting this past week, I was still recovering from my last minute trip to Europe. It’s been fairly low key here at Pinching Copper for the last couple of days. In the meantime, take a look at some great articles written by other personal finance bloggers:

• Our Four Pence Worth shared a great story on why sometimes the do-it-yourself route isn’t always the best one.
• Master Your Card pondered the ethics of auctioning off your debt.
• Girls Just Wanna Have Funds delved into a woman’s view on the recession.
• Living Almost Large reminds us that you shouldn’t loss faith when saving towards retirement.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Unless you’ve been intentionally avoiding the news, odds are you know whether or not you have a rebate check coming your way. I could rehash the same old information about how much you’ll be getting, if any. But you’ve already done the math and know just how much Uncle Sam is cutting you a check for. But when is it supposed to show up?

So I’m watching Wheel of Fortune right now, mainly because there is nothing better to watch at 7:30. While the Wheel of Fortune can be a great time killer between the news and primetime shows, I learned two very important things while watching it: Vanna White must spend a small fortune on plastic surgery and Botox, and most people are absolutely consumed by greed.

My wife and I have two cats, Max and Saskia. We’ve had these two monsters for almost three years now, and I couldn’t imagine our home without them. We adopted them as stray little kittens, and coming home to them really brightens up my day, They’re pretty adorable (as most cats are), but there is a nasty little side effect to owning cats: Litter boxes.

Grand Theft Auto IV has been getting plenty of press lately. Newspapers, magazines, and news programs are all up in arms about the intense level of violence portrayed in the game. Murder, stealing, drug use, and prostitution are all center stage in the latest iteration of the series. Parents are freaking out because of what their children might take away from this game. After all, violent crime sprees aren’t what you want to teach impressionable children.

But with all the controversy surrounding what children will learn from this game, one important issue has been completely overshadowed: Sound financial advice.