Many years ago, Clark saw a bumper sticker that read, "He who has the gold makes the rules." There's a real truth to that phrase. For example, sometimes companies are so large that they get federally bailed out. That's what happened to Chrysler in 1979 when Lee Iacocca grabbed the company's reins and used taxpayer money to get things back in shape. Taxpayers (and Chrysler!) eventually benefited from this move, but Clark is never happy when a federal bailout is needed to help out a capitalist enterprise. But that's the core of the unwritten "too big to fail" rule: If a company is so big that going under would have negative repercussions on an international level, then that company must be kept afloat.

Today we have a modern variant of the "too big to fail" rule in the housing market. Call it the "strength in numbers" phenomenon. Wells Fargo -- the second largest mortgage lender -- is looking to arrange workouts with homeowners who can't make their mortgage payments. Why? Because there are overwhelming number of homeowners with mortgages in default. All the delinquencies are forcing Wells Fargo to find alternate plans. Homeowners who make the best candidates for these workouts are those who fell behind on their mortgage but now are in a position to make payments again. But beware if your loan was sold off by your mortgage lender. The rules of the sale may have stipulated that no adjustments can be made to the loan terms. You may need to get a waiver from the current loan holder -- if you're able to track them down -- to get the benefits of the Wells Fargo workouts.