One of the recurring comments I've heard over the last few months is, “where's my bailout package?” or “who's going to bail me out?”

And while our industry certainly isn't getting anything directly from the government to help us, in an indirect way, I say we are.

Here's how.

Beginning this month, most of us middle-classers started getting somewhat bigger paychecks in the form of smaller tax withholdings. No, it's not going to make you rich, or really even any more safe and comfortable, but it doesn't take a lot of cash to make a difference.

Which leads me to my next point.

Gift and home industry consultant Cinda Baxter recently launched The 3/50 Project. It goes like this: Pick three independent retailers in your community that you would miss if they closed, visit them and spend some money in each.

If half the employed population spent $50 per month at those stores (based on February employment statistics), it would generate $42.6 billion in sales.

But it doesn't stop at the stores. According to Baxter, for every $100 spent in locally owned stores, $68 returns to the community in taxes, payroll and other expenditures. At a national chain, that number drops to $42.

So that extra $10, $20 or $50 in our paychecks can make a real difference. It's an inspired idea, and one that you are invited to use yourself for your own store's benefit. Just go online to the350project.net and get on board.

Which brings me to my next point.

When the government started the Troubled Asset Relief Program several months ago, it was met with a lot of consternation and confusion.

Right here in our own industry, however, we found a retailer who benefited in a very meaningful way from the bank bailouts. But I will let him tell the story himself, as Thompson Lange is our guest retailer columnist this month on page 67.

These may be baby steps, but they are steps in the right direction. Maybe there really is a bailout for everyone.