It's a new era in banking with 3 giant monster-mega banks -- Citibank, Bank of America and Chase -- rising to dominate the financial landscape. Historically, we've had many banking choices in the United States to avoid concentration of financial power. Canada was really the first developed nation to go the giant monster mega-bank route. As part of the backlash, our neighbors in the Great White North also embraced credit unions like no other nation!

When all the financial mess settles down, Citibank, Bank of America and Chase will together account for about 1 in every 3 deposit dollars in the United States. The relative lack of competition means the banks have no incentive to offer good customer service. But you don't have to do business with them -- even though convenience is king for many people.

Clark thinks we need intense supervision of these 3 outfits so they can't get into any lending foolishness that could undermine our nation.

Meanwhile, Europe is facing 3 bailouts of its own during the last 36 hours. The most prominent has been the Benelux-funded rescue of banking and insurance company Fortis. There were also similar bailouts in Britain and Germany. So is the world on the verge of financial collapse? No, but we've got a lot of homework to do here and overseas.

By now you've heard that the federal bailout plan failed in the House of Representatives. Remember, the first job of a politician is to get re-elected. So it is any wonder that -- weeks before an election -- the pols balked when faced with a bill that was unpopular and little understood by the average person?

Now the inevitable question: What's next? First, Clark believes we are in a recession and it will deepen. Second, this is not the eve of the Great Depression. We may have unemployment, but it will be more like the kind we faced in the '80s -- not the '30s. This is not gloom and doom.

In the post-Civil War years through the turn of the century, we had 8 major recessions in the United States if Clark remembers his history correctly. Then in 1907, we had a credit market failure that had to be corrected by JP Morgan -- the man, not the company.

Any recovery will take a while. We borrowed and spent money that we can't pay back. We have millions of houses to work off as excess. Nothing can recover until the housing market returns to equilibrium.

During the recession in the early '80s, we had mortgage interest rates that were above 20%! But we went through difficult times and recovered. We just have to work off the excess -- too much house, too much car, too much debt, too much government spending.

Working off the excess means our standard of living will be slightly lower for the foreseeable future. So you'll have to live on less of what you make. It won't be pretty or happy, but it is not the Great Depression.

Are you still having difficulty figuring out how all the news today -- and of the past 2 weeks -- affects you?

It's difficult to understand why we should help Wall Street bigs who make an average salary of $300,000. If there's one thing we're united by, it's our anger at the bailout bill. People are understandably skeptical when Pres. Bush had been saying everything was OK with our economy, and then he turned around and dramatically changed his tune.

Clark wants to try to show what could happen in a worst-case scenario if the financial markets continue having a nervous breakdown.

As an example, businesses wouldn't be able to borrow money to expand, which pinches future economic growth. With no access to money, businesses may cease to exist; new startups couldn't get funding; or businesses may survive but not grow. All of these circumstances would lead to lower economic growth, potential layoffs and fewer jobs being created.

Meanwhile, you as a consumer wouldn't be able to get credit to buy something. The business that couldn't sell to you then has lower sales, which circles back around and can lead to layoffs.

The failure of Wachovia -- the nation's fourth largest bank -- is the next shoe to fall here at home. Let's start with some common customer concerns that Clark is hearing. First, accounts are completely safe, and you can access your funds just as you did before the failure. Second, if you have a mortgage or HELOC with Wachovia, you still must pay on your debt to the same address where you've been paying all along.

The FDIC claims this is not a failure, but that's baloney. Wachovia stockholders -- including Clark himself -- are wiped out. For months, Clark has been blasting Wachovia on air over a variety of issues. Therefore, he felt it would be unethical for him to sell his holdings, and so he too went down with the ship.

We as taxpayers did not pay anything for the Wachovia failure, but our maximum potential exposure could be up to $270 billion under the deal the FDIC arranged with Citigroup. This fact is not being reported widely.

Meanwhile, the federal bailout is designed to prevent a death spiral; credit unions and other institutions now are being granted access to money to bolster our financial system. So where is it safe to put your money? Clark wants to emphasize that it's completely safe to use all of our nation's banks, mutual fund companies and credit unions.

One final word for Wachovia customers: Print out hard copies of all current balances on all holdings. Having current records is your best defense against things getting bungled down the road as Citigroup takes over.