Enough, already.

At first, I thought the bailouts were necessary. But, I really never want to hear the “word of the year” again. Especially not for the auto industry.

I reached my breaking point with The Big Three about two weeks ago, when it was reported that each of the CEO’s made their trip to Washington D.C. via private jet.

“Wagoner’s private jet trip to Washington cost his ailing company an estimated $20,000 roundtrip. In comparison, seats on Northwest Airlines flight 2364 from Detroit to Washington were going online for $288 coach and $837 first class.

After the hearing, Wagoner declined to answer questions about his travel.”

$20,000? Are you kidding me? That could be someone’s salary for an entire year. These men clearly let their companies fall into the position they are currently in . . . and I (or any other tax payer) shouldn’t be footing the bill.

And, I’m not the only one that thinks this way. A new article released today from Forbes show that only 20% of Americans think that it’s very important for President Obama to give loans to the auto industry.

As far as financial companies go–though I think helping them is more necessary than helping the auto industry–I think Citi’s bailout last week should be the final straw.

I am sick of the government bailing out people and companies because their poor choices led to poor results. I agree with the woman who called into CNN, as seen in the clip below:

Plain and simple, it’s not a good time for anyone in the U.S. economy. And, according to Campbell Brown of CNN, the times are “terrifying.”

Unlike Wall Street executives or the giants of the auto industry, Brown’s show yesterday focused on a group of people we can actually relate to: students.

Brown talked about the unavailability of student loans–calling it “the topic du jour in dorm rooms right now as students pack up for the Thanksgiving holiday.” She has a point . . . as banks like Wachovia, Citibank and Keybank have dropped out of providing student loans altogether. And, unfortunately, reports show students are just continuing to spend, spend, spend.

That’s bad news for us in New York, as the State University of New York (SUNY) just approved a $620 tuition hike. That has caused a bit of an uproar around the state, with several protests already in the works.

There was some good news today, as the Fed’s proposed loan buying will be directed toward student loans:

“Student loan guarantees: $9 billion so far in government purchases of student loans from private lenders. Higher borrowing costs made student loans unprofitable for a number of lenders, many of whom stopped issuing the loans.”

Still, as Campbell Brown’s piece below makes clear, there are many, many students out there facing a really depressing fate.

Wow. You know this economic crisis is really, really bad when the people actually reporting on it can’t even keep their jobs.

The bad business practices that have swept Wall Street isn’t even beneficial to the companies that it’s helping. In covering the financial meltdown, CNBC has garnered stellar ratings. The channels numbers in September were the best ever (in its 19-year history) and represented a huge increase from last year.

“CNBC in September, which Nielsen Media Research dates from Sept. 1-28, averaged 373,000 viewers during its business-day period. That was up 46% from last September’s 255,000 average and represented the financial news network’s best overall month with the daypart since March 2001.”

CNBC executives tout their prowess in the television business world to a sense of anxiety in the viewer saying, “When there’s an aggressive move to one extreme or the other CNBC engagement surges,” said Mark Hoffman, CNBC’s President. “Through much of this crisis fear has beat greed silly.”

But, now, The New York Observer is reporting that GE’s budget cuts are moving to CNBC.  The rumor is that the cut could be as large as 10 percent.

This is one of the first times that CNBC is feeling the cuts of its parent company. Previously, GE kept the cuts to NBC and cable network MSNBC.

“Back in October, NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker sent an e-mail to employees, informing them that roughly $500 million, or roughly 3 percent of the budget, would be cut across the company, focusing on “reductions in promotion expenses; in discretionary spending, such as travel and entertainment and outside consultants; and in staffing costs.”

Details of the layoffs have not yet been released—so whether or not on-air anchors or reporters are affected is unknown.

One thing I’m guessing? CNBC won’t be reporting these job cuts during tomorrow’s broadcasts.

If it were my decision, I wouldn’t give a dime to Wall Street to pay for CEO bonuses. But, as we all know, it’s not up to me.

I saw a segment on “The Early Show” this morning that posed this very controversial question to the experts, which made me decide that I really don’t care if these CEOs get their bonuses or how much the bonuses are–the thing I mostly care about is: Where is the money coming from?

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley each have $6.8 billion and $6.4 billion, respectively, set aside for bonuses. However, U.S. taxpayers are saying that these bonuses should be eliminated.

“I may not understand everything, but I do understand common sense, and when you lend money to someone, you don’t want to see them at a new-car dealer the next day,” said Ken Karlson, a 61-year-old Vietnam veteran and freelance marketer in Wheaton, Illinois. “The bailout money shouldn’t have been given to them in the first place.”

On the other hand, Massachusetts Sen. Barney Frank says that none of the money from the bailout will be given to bonuses and that “all of the money is to go into new loans.”

While I don’t feel too strongly about either side on this issue, I think it’s a moot point. Losing a bonus is a much nicer gift than losing your house or losing your job.

Here’s the CBS piece I talked about earlier.

My favorite line in this piece is: “If firms don’t pay out the big bonuses, they’re afraid they might lose the top talent.”

Which leads me to ask: Would it be so bad to lose the people that got us into this mess in the first place?

Also, your credit limits may start to decrease without your knowledge. Or, if you have a credit card that you  keep around for emergencies but has been rendered inactive, it may be canceled so the issuer can cut the cost of maintaining the account. These may seem like small changes, but they can hurt your credit score, so it’s a good idea to keep a close eye on your accounts these days. The Wall Street Journal reports how you can track what’s being done to your credit score.

This CBS News story outlines the changes that you will likely see happen in credit cards in the near future.

As the Wall Street Journal reports, there are also companies chomping at the bit to take advantage of people who already have loads of credit card debt, like Wally Bowman, a security guard in Ohio who paid a company $249 a month to settle his $15,000 of credit card debt. Unfortunately, the debt was never settled and instead increased to $20,000, forcing Mr. Bowman to file for bankruptcy.

As the crisis continues, keep an eye on your accounts and make sure they aren’t being changed without your knowledge, and read the fine print that comes with your statements. Knowledge is power, people! It’s your money.

Image courtesy of The Silver Penguin on Flickr.com.