Fall back.

Adidas Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico track jackets $80 Wear the flag with some dignity.

Ramona Leather Riding Boot $90 Giddyap!

Tapatio T-Shirt $33 People will say "you look hot."

Twilight Bella Jacket $64 Guaranteed to attract vampires and werewolves.

Buffalo plaid New Era Baseball Caps $42 If Elmer Fudd was a shortstop, he'd wear one of these.

Nike Zoom LeBron VII $160 Walk around like a king.

Denim Leggings $33 Now you can fit into your favorite "jeans."

Forever 21 Ankle boot $25 It's doesn't have to be about length.

Stay warm.

Forever 21 Double Breasted Knit Coat $28 Only one pair of breasts needed.

Mitchell & Ness Sideline Track Jacket $150 Are you ready for some football?

Penny Loves Kenny Fizzy Boot $70 This season, it's ankle boots or long boots. We're going long.

Enjoi Manorexic Jeans $40 Wrap your gifts in a colorful package.

Kimchi Blue Mini Clouche $34 They're not just for riding horses anymore.

Empyre Wallingford Herringbone Hoodie $60 It's a jacket. It's a hoodie. It's sixty bucks.

ELMCOMPANY Wildlife Beanie $30 Let that wild animal out.

Air Jordan Sixty Plus $150 Commemorate Michael Jordan's five 60+ scoring games with a shoe that combines elements of the kicks he wore in each game.

(image via Think Geek)

Geek out.

Creative Vado Pocket Video Cam $40 This two-gig video camera is the cheapest of them all.

Samsung DualView TL220 digital camera $230 An LCD screen on the front makes this an ideal camera for taking your very own PPL pix.

Fred Cassette Tape Tote Bag $10 Who said cassettes are obsolete?

Skull Candy Hesh Headphones $50 Those white earbuds everyone's rocking are a bit boring.

Fred Flare Five-Minute Candle Pack $8 These match-size emergency candles will save your boo's b-day.

PlayStation 3 Slim $299 The PS3 has been cutting down on those carbs. And it's $100 cheaper.

We know what's good.

Old Navy Wayfarer sunglasses $5 Look like Katy Perry or Demi Lovato for pennies on the dollar.

New Era MLB Blackout $34 New Era's "blackout" hats let you mix and match while staying true.

Forever 21 Patsy Striped Racerback Tank $10 Stripes are in. We promise.

Charlotte Russe Solid Bangle Set $4 Bangles are like dollar bills. It's always better when you've got more than one.

Nike P-Rod 3 $89 Will you be able to nail 360 flips like Paul Rodriguez? Probably not, but you can look good trying.

AshiDashi Socks $11 (each) Someone may try to write on your leg when you go back to school – or bite it.

(image by D'Arcy Norman via flickr)

The bad news: Americans will have to learn to live on less now that credit is hard to get and jobs even harder. The good news: Latinos should know how to live big on less – especially in the kitchen.

Like most traditional cuisines, Latin American cooking transforms cheap ingredients into richly flavored dishes that can feed a large family for days. Traditional foods are also more likely to be balanced and non-fattening. In most Latin America countries, red meat is a luxury, snacks are non-existent and dessert is a weekly treat.

Here are three of the most popular Latin American dishes. All are healthy, cheap and easy to prepare.

1. Rice and Beans

It's the quintessential Latino food: rice and beans – from black frijoles to white judías, from green gandules to brown pintos. No matter what color or what you call them, beans (technically "legumes") are nutritious and when combined with rice they're a complete protein. You can literally live off of rice and beans.

Cost: Even if you buy the fanciest organic brands, rice and beans are some of the cheapest foods you can buy in a supermarket.

Preparation: Are you ready? Add water and heat. Seriously. You should probably add seasoning. Also, some beans should be soaked overnight. Most bean dishes are prepared with a basic sofrito of onions and peppers.

2. Ceviche

Ceviche sounds exotic but it's straight-up fish in citrus juice and it's enjoyed in every Latin American country, from Baja California in México to the Patagonias in Argentina and Chile. The fish can be whatever you like or whatever is plentiful and cheap. The citrus bath is usually lemons and limes but you can get fancy and use oranges and grapefruits. Because the acids in the citrus bath do the cooking, ceviche is one of the healthiest dishes you can make.

Cost: Some fish can be expensive – but those aren't the ones you want to use for ceviche. Ask the dude in the white jacket behind the counter for cheap fresh fish to use in ceviche. As for lemons and limes, you can't get cheaper produce.

Preparation: Get bowl. Cut fish. Squeeze lemons and limes in bowl. Place fish in juice. Place bowl in fridge. Come back tomorrow. Eat. For seasoning it's the same-old: chopped onions, salt and pepper. Do you like cilantros and chiles? Add some.

3. Papas

Potatoes were first cultivated in Perú by the Incas more than two thousand years ago and weren't exported to rest of the world until the 1600s. They're low in calories and incredibly nutritious. They're also delicious and the main ingredient in dozens of easy to prepare Latin American dishes.

Cost: Is two for a dollar cheap enough for ya?

Preparation: The potato can be boiled, baked or fried, seasoned and then eaten. But it can be even more delicious when you follow a traditional recipe, from the basic Mexican sopa de papa, to the intermediate Peruvian papa a la Huancaína or the involved Colombian ajiaco.

(image by Jobs for Justice via flickr)

Last week, over 200 factory workers were laid off from the Republic Windows and Doors plant in Chicago. They didn't go home. Instead, the workers began a six-day sit-in to protest unfair practices by their employer. The laid-off workers, who are mostly Latino, were being denied severance and vacation pay by Republic Windows, which closed its doors after losing its financing from Bank of America. The factory, which only gave its workers a three-day notice about the lay-offs (a 60-day notice is required by law), was occupied by upset employees who said they would remain at work until they were paid what they were owed.

Plant worker Raul Flores: "We are very upset to see a situation where the banks get a bailout with money out of our pockets, and we all get fired.” President-elect Barack Obama, who began his political career in Chicago, voiced his support: “I think they’re absolutely right and understand that what’s happening to them is reflective of what’s happening across this economy.”

Bank of America soon bowed to the pressure and announced it would provide loans to the Republic Windows and Doors plant so it could pay its workers. JP Morgan & Chase also offered $400,000 on the condition that “every cent go immediately to the workers so they can have a good Christmas.” After days of negotiations, the workers finally agreed to a $1.75 million settlement with Bank of America. Estimated at $7,000 per worker, each employee will receive eight weeks' salary, vacation pay and two months' paid health care.

Plant worker Lalo Muñoz: "We lost the jobs but we got something."

(image by Neubie via Flickr)

A funny thing happened on the way to the financial meltdown: illegal immigrants, who by Federal law shouldn't even be in the United States, turned out to be some of the most trustworthy borrowers in the country.

While illegal immigrants aren't issued Social Security numbers, they can apply for an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) which allows them to pay their income taxes. Starting in 2003, during the height of the real estate boom, many banks and credit unions began allowing undocumented workers to use an ITIN to establish their identity when applying for a home loan. During the next few years, as many as 12,000 ITIN mortgages were issued to illegal immigrants.

While some banks discontinued the practice after being criticized for catering to "illegals," those that endured the political pressure have reported results that some might find surprising: illegal immigrants have been more responsible borrowers. According to the Wall Street Journal, one out of every ten subprime mortgages went into delinquency last year while the rate for ITIN loans was only one out of every two hundred. Because of their illegal status, most of the immigrants who received ITIN loans were carefully vetted, had to make substantial down payments and received more stable fixed rate loans.

But as the overall housing and mortgage market collapsed, lenders stopped issuing ITIN loans. For now, undocumented workers remain locked out of the real estate market, no matter their sterling reputation in the banking world.

Lil Wayne isn't the only one with money on his mind. The top issue this election is the economy – and how to fix it. While senators McCain and Obama don't agree on the best response, no one disputes the U.S. economy is in deep trouble.

Feeling Yucky.

If our economy was a person, it would have a fever, aches and pains, some weird-looking spots and, depending on who you ask, either a really bad cold or a life-threatening illness. For the first time in nearly 20 years, the basic things we buy in stores are getting more expensive more quickly. That inflation is being caused by higher oil and food costs. But not only are things more expensive, today's consumers have less money to spend.

The number of unemployed people looking for work is now the highest it's been in six years. When there are more people looking for jobs than there are jobs, companies don't need to raise wages to attract workers. So everyone – unemployed and employed – ends up with less income.

Less income means less spending and less spending doesn't just hurt the families who are skipping a trip to the mall. Our national economy is powered by consumer spending. This summer the consumer confidence index is the second lowest it's been in 28 years. When consumers stop consuming, companies lose money and there are even less jobs and less shoppers.

When our economy had these symptoms in the past, we just took a pill and felt better in the morning. That pill was credit or borrowed money. Guess what: we've overdosed.

High times.

In 1998, the average household debt was $70,220. Last year it was $121,650 – it nearly doubled in less than 10 years. While much of that debt is in increasingly painful credit cards, most of it is money Americans borrowed against their homes.

When Internet company stocks went bust in 2000, people started to invest in real estate. For the next five years, housing prices nearly doubled in many major cities. This meant that someone could borrow money to buy a house, wait a few months, sell the house and make a profit. It was like magic money and soon everyone wanted a piece of the action.

Wall Street investors backed banks who were lending money. Companies started borrowing money to build more homes. People with no money – and sometimes, no jobs – were borrowing ridiculous money to buy homes. And people who already had one mortgage borrowed more money – just to spend it. All of them thought they could eventually sell their home for more than they borrowed. Until last year.

Where's my money at?

For the last 22 months straight, home prices have dropped in 20 key cities across the country. In some cities, prices have dropped 25 to 30 percent. There are too many homes and too few people with the money to buy them.

An estimated 9 million homeowners now owe more money for their homes than those homes are worth. Banks and investors around the world are owed as much as $1 trillion they may never get back. Some institutions don't even know how much money they're owed.

When lenders began to realize they were losing money, they panicked and stopped making new loans. For a minute, it looked like much of the global economy was close to collapsing until the U.S. and European governments had to put some of their money in the mix.

The mornings after.

As American consumers, companies and banks recover from six years of bad choices — President Bush describes it as "Wall Street got drunk" – the U.S. economy is struggling to crawl forward. (Latinos are among the worst off.) Europe, Asia and Latin America are now catching what we've got. There may be no one left standing to help us up.

If you're over 18, register to vote. If not, help register someone who is. Get invested. It's your future.