Ridiculous, huh? Get-rich-quick reality shows are still on television. It’s like watching reruns of Seinfeld from the ’90s when people were preoccupied with George Costanza’s musings at the restaurant. Everyone still wants to be a millionaire, but where would those new millionaires invest? Put your money in the banks that are still dying … risky. Put it on the stock market that trades on the air. Hmm … I could lose a lot. What about real estate? Lots of good bargains, the problem is those damn houses keep falling in value. And what about those money exchange shows and all the get-rich-quick gurus still selling their wares on the top cable channels? They may have some answers. How about all the fabulously rich and famous people who keep chattering on the radio waves? What about Oprah and Suze Orman and Dr. Phil and David Letterman and Jay Leno? They are still having a tremendous time, a fantastic time, and making tons of money. They could certainly tell us what to do with our money.

It seems that there is still that group that laughs while the middle class awaits the next debt bomb. You can go to the movies to see what these people do with your money. Take a movie like Revolutionary Road, where the couple throws it all away and decides to go to Europe. They can’t stand the grind of the middle class, so they choose not to participate. They sell their house, collect their savings and leave. The problem is, we can’t sell our houses right now and those savings … well, we can’t sell our houses anyway. You could Tivo Barack Obama’s inauguration speech and look for clues, but even his speech acknowledged that for most of us the party was over. High rhetoric had taken a backseat to punish us and the finance titans for our spending spree. Yes, you are right.

The problem is, what do you do with all this old economy stuff … big cars and houses and high taxes? Chances are, you have one of the three and still have to pay the bills. Personally, I would love to pull out the Kate Winslet / Leonardo DiCaprio Get Out of Jail Free Card and sell everything and start over in the new economy. Small house, fuel-efficient car, low debt, meaningful work … but unfortunately, its story took place in the 1950s. That was the start of the party and they didn’t even have shows like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. So I guess we can’t get clues there. Wait a minute … I know, let’s invest in oil! That always goes up. Ugh, that was close. This being rich is tough.