Herewith, the Sun enters the crowded arena of those offering unsolicited advice on surviving hard times.

First, cut up all credit cards. Of course, if everyone followed that advice economic problems would be prolonged since the entire United States economy is based on credit and unbridled spending.

Great Britain was once labeled "a nation of shopkeepers." The U.S. long has been a nation of shoppers. Shopping is the national pastime. Too much for things no one really needs? But, where would all that stuff for garage sales come from? Do the street corners of any other developed country sport those ubiquitous "Garage Sale" signs every weekend? (Maybe shopping and selling through garage sales should be on the advice list.)

What's next? Give up those credit cards. Strip down to cash. It'll never happen. Just a noble experiment like Prohibition.

Well spendthrifts, that's the Sun's second step. Try shopping within a weekly cash allowance; and if it runs out, wait `til next week to buy. That has worked well for 68 years in one familiar household. Some of the best meals were on Thursday nights before allowance day. Nobody had to learn any new discipline since both bride and groom had grown up under that system. The bride's first weekly allowance was $10 to cover food and all regular weekly household expenses...even newspaper delivery. What is it now? The money amount has kept up with the times, but still is a model of household management.

Look at a few more things from those "good old days." In the Great Depression years there were no all-purpose credit cards. Store charge accounts were the norm and every store issued their own, so shoppers needed a wallet-full to make the rounds. Not just anybody could get them and bills were payable monthly. Hard to run up debts like today's reported average of more than $9,000 per person in the United States.

In agricultural Mississippi, the store credit cycle came around in the fall, after crops were in and sold. The rest of the year most everything went on the tab at hardware, drug, farm supply and such. Farm produce often was swapped for services of a country doctor...even to support the preacher.

There are lots of differences between '29 and '09: no safety nets of unemployment payments or Social Security. Hard times festered for several years before any major federal rescue plans began. Even now, there's continuing debate about whether the experiments this time are for better or for worse. Time will tell. But you can bet we'll all be paying for a long time.

John Fontaine is a Northsider.