This was just announced. This could affect me and I suspect others here could be affected as well.

I've been meaning to freeze my credit and now I'm going to do it. There's no reason not to. I own my home, just bought a car last year, have two credit cards and pay cash for everything with a few exceptions. I use them for online purchases and to pay medical bills and then I pay the balances off immediately. If I had managed my money when I was young as well as I do now, I'd be rich. No shit. But then, I saved a lot of animals so I don't beat myself up too much. And I wouldn't change it.

Right now we live in a world where credit is almost mandatory. Just be careful, watch your spending, and don't get in debt. Buy a house way outside of any city, drive used cars, work hard, and save as much as you can. Don't be distracted by what's going on in the world. Take care of yourself. There may be a future yet in this country.

None of my links would work. Difficult to do things on a cell phone sometimes. Go to MarketWatch-- they've got a good article. Sorry.

Someone can post some links here.