This could be a fun parlor game but it would never happen. But it is precisely why these executives make the bone-headed decisions to fly the private jets or plan retreats at tony spas. They don't have to make the difficult personal financial decisions so many Americans make on a daily basis. Theirs is a different reality.

They could all take a page from Warren Buffett. He's a billionaire many times over but he lives a very humble lifestyle. It may explain why he has cash to buy stock while the prices are low.

Don't get me wrong. I champion free enterprise and free trade. But I don't have the stomach for executives who didn't mind the store and now expect more money — our money — for a bailout. Can we be certain they'll treat our money that much better than they did their own?

Perhaps they will. Perhaps they will recognize they have been given a do-over and they will be far more diligent with our money than they were with their own. We have to trust they will not fail because if they do, we will all suffer the consequences. For some, it may mean the loss of their job or a drastically different lifestyle than they envisioned for their retirements. For others, it means an ongoing crisis of confidence, the one thing money can't fix.

Marjorie Cortez, who appreciates the therapeutic value of a pedicure (on one's own dime), is a Deseret News editorial writer. E-mail her at Marjorie@desnews.com