I did not live through the Great Depression, but my parents did.

Even though they were youths at the time, the Depression served as a backdrop for all of the decisions made during their adult lives. It made them frugal to the point of avoiding all risk.

I am not a youth, and if the current crisis causes the US and the rest of the world to sink into a 1930's style depression again, it will be the experience of my grandparents that will more closely approximate my own.

My grandparents saw their family's weath evaporate. Farms were lost to bank foreclosure. Promising futures disappeared.

Neither set of grandparents was able to rebound financially to retire with enough savings to last the remainder of their lives.

This is where I see myself today - along with millions more of the baby boom generation.

We have seen the stock market collapse three times in two decades, and for many of us who attempted to save and invest we are no further ahead than we were 10 years ago.

I am 56 years old and half of my savings has been wiped out. There is almost no chance that I will ever be able to retire, since the government most certainly will be forced to delay retirement benefits for several years.

This is the price I am paying to bail out the US banking system.

For decades the US government has spent beyond its means, encouraging US citizens to do the same. We are a country living on debt. For a time it appeared that the cost of this debt would be borne by future generations.

We were wrong.

The bill has arrived, and payment is due today.