With the world economy in recession and the economic forecasts looking grim, getting out of debt may seem a distant and impossible dream to most people due to ever-increasing high interest debt. The lack of available cash and the high level of consumer debt have affected businesses worldwide and helped to create a situation in which many governments worldwide are being forced to inact legislation to bailout banks and other financial institutions. Whether this is a good thing for the global economy or not has yet to be determined, and is beyond the scope of this article.