Free Money Finance has a great guest post about giving generously during hard times. I encourage everyone to read it.

One particular section, however, has elicited a few negative responses.

I ran across an article today that asks whether people who currently pay their mortgages are dumb. My primary answer is: Perhaps, but you should do it anyway, for both moral and practical reasons.

I was catching up on some of my personal finance blog reading when I came across a post by Meg at All Financial Matters about whether and when spending money is good or bad (which itself is a reaction to this post at Living Almost Large). Meg's conclusion is basically that, of course spending itself is not wrong, but spending excessively is definitely wrong. In her words:

Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) recently got caught with both hands in Countrywide's cookie jar in order to get a sweet deal on refinancing his mortgage. He claims he wasn't looking for any special treatment:

"As a United States senator, I would never ask or expect to be treated differently than anyone else refinancing their home," Dodd said in a statement.

Senator Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) is in the same boat. Here's his attempt at ignorance:

Jim over at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity asks whether his readers give to panhandlers (he doesn't). I don't give to panhandlers, but then there aren't very many in the small upstate town where I live. I doubt I would give to them in a larger area either.

It's a sad story of expectations and undeserved feelings of entitlement.

My wife is the president of the parent-teacher group at our daughter's school, and each year the group sponsors the purchase of "spirit wear" where students and parents can order clothing emblazoned with the school's mascot. As such, last year my wife did some research into who could produce the clothing. She preferred to go with a local vendor, and in asking around found out that the uncle of one of the children in our daughter's class owned a screen printing business.

Shortly after I started this blog, I decided to provide some commentary about a joint survey/quiz performed by CNN and Money Magazine, which contained questions related to money and ethics. Here are my thoughts on question 2.

Question 2:

You are selling your home. Your neighbor, who works at City Hall, tells you about a project that would make your neighborhood more attractive, but would lead to a $25,000 assessment. Would you tell prospective buyers?

All Financial Matters posted about a new money and ethics survey at CNN. The survey was conducted by Money Magazine, and after each question you can compare your own money ethics with the participants' responses as well as commentary provided by Money Magazine's group of "ethicists" after each question.