Larry Winget, billed as the World’s Only Irritational Speaker is one of the hottest and most demanded voices in North America. His is latest book, You’re Broke Because You Want to Be is a NY Times Best Seller and his PBS Special will be airing nationally very shortly.

Larry’s appearances over the past few weeks on FOX and Larry King have struck a huge cord with audiences during this ridiculous and devastating financial crisis. I had dinner and shared some great cigars with Larry in Manhattan last week and he told me that Planet Zman needed contributing writers. So, without further adieu, I officially unleash the Pitbull of Personal Development, himself…

For those of you who watch Fox News or Fox Business, you have seen me on both of those stations for the past few weeks talking about the bailout. For those of you who don’t watch those stations and haven’t seen me, let me catch you up.

1. This is a bailout. Period. This is NOT a rescue plan. If it looks like crap and smells like crap, I don’t have to taste it to know it’s crap. And this crap is a bailout. Don’t be fooled by the cutesy names that make it more palatable. It is not a rescue or a stimulus package. This is a bailout of Wall Street. We are bailing them out because of greed and stupidity.

2. I am against it. I know the ramifications and I know what they SAY will happen if we don’t. I don’t buy it. Lots of economists don’t buy it either. When you reward bad behavior you set a bad example and in this case, you set a precedent where any time an industry gets in trouble, they will consider it their right to go to the government (that’s you and me) to bail them out. I am also against it because any behavior, when rewarded will be repeated. I am also against it because any lesson, not learned will be repeated. This lesson is not being learned because the consequences are not being imposed. You take your licks now or you take them later. I would rather see us take them now. Add to that the fact that we don’t know if it will work or not. For $700 Billion we should know whether it is going to work or not. We don’t have a CLUE.

3. I am aware people are suffering. I hear from folks every day who are making their payments, working two jobs and doing their best and are still in trouble. They are not the idiots I talk about all the time. They are good folks, working hard and still not able to get ahead. These people will not be helped by this bailout. Don’t buy it, this is for Wall Street, not Main Street.

4. When the government says that something will cost a dollar, it will cost three. One for the program. One for government waste to implement the program. One for someone to make money off the program. Also, any government program takes twice as long to implement as promised and does half as much good as promised.

5. Fear. Bush came on TV and told people that their kids weren’t going to be able to go to college and that your company wouldn’t make payroll and that you wouldn’t be able to buy a new car. That is fear mongering and I don’t like it. On top of all that, when George Bush comes on television and says “trust me, we need to do this” I am skeptical. You should be too. He has lied to us before and that lie cost us thousands of lives and about ten billion dollars per month. Add to this fear the stupid economists who are saying that you will go to your ATM and won’t be able to get money out – total BS. FEAR FEAR FEAR. Trying to create a panic among all of us regular folks so we will support it. So far, the people aren’t buying it and are communicating that to their elected officials. GOOD. I hope WE win.

6. Credit is going to be hard to get. Is that a bad thing? Credit was too easy to get for way too long. That is a major part of this whole mess. AND, I don’t think people are worried so much about future credit as much as they are about having cash to pay the credit they already have. Who cares if your 401K takes a hit if you lose your house?

7. I find this whole thing offensive. SUDDENLY the government is aware we have a crisis. On July 18, Bush said the “fundamentals of our economy are sound.” On August 20, McCain said “the fundamentals of our economy are STRONG.” And NOW we are in crisis and the administration want us to immediately come to their rescue! I have been working for a couple of years with regular folks who have known for a good long while that the economy is NOT sound and that Americans are in a financial crisis. You knew the economy sucked. I knew it sucked. Why didn’t the government? In July, Bush said that he had HEARD of $4 a gallon gasoline but wasn’t aware of it. He wasn’t aware of it but you and I were paying it. That is another reason I wasn’t in any rush to support a blank check from a guy who said he had the solution to a problem only weeks before didn’t believe we had.

Listen, I could go on and on about this but I won’t. And I refuse to make this about politics. I am just reporting the FACTS here. Again, calling a spade a spade. Watch the clips of me on the shows in my Video Vault. Instead of ranting about the bailout any longer, let me tell you what you should do.

Don’t make long term decisions based on short term fears. In other words, don’t panic. Good decisions are rarely made when people are emotional or in panic mode.

Understand that investments carry a risk. If you didn’t know that, then you never should have been investing in the first place.

Investments are long term. Hang on. What goes up MUST go down. What goes down, eventually goes back up again.

Cut back on your lifestyle. If you can survive without it right now, then don’t spend money on it.

Stay away from debt. And if you are in debt, get out as quickly as you can.

Sell off the crap you don’t need.

Cash is KING. Accumulate as much as you can. Put it someplace where you can get your hands on it quickly.

If you have money, now is a good time to invest. Things are cheap right now and they will go back up. Some stocks are a good buy. Real estate is a good buy. But ONLY invest if you understand the risk involved and if you can afford it.

Folks, this is a tough time for our country. People are having a hard time making ends meet. It isn’t going to get any easier for a while – maybe a good long while. Be smart!

CLICK HERE>www.larrywinget.com

This is the Zman telling you that Larry’s webiste is loaded with valuable and essential “must-have” info. Click where it says FREE STUFF and you’ll receive FREE audio downloads of this Best Selling Author explaining each of his 18 Guiding Principals for Success, Happiness, & Prosperity. You’ll also so receive Larry’s Ten Rules for Business Success. In these short clips Winget gets straight to the point with concise, targeted information that WILL help you achieve more success both in your personal and professional life.