Economics - 354 "How is this going to effect me?"

I agree with Bloomberg...and, I guess, Warren Buffet for that matter. There are two real crises here 1) the credit crisis and 2) the regulation crisis that is bound to follow this new collapse. It is completely naive to say that we, as the American people, are completely to blame for what has happened to wall street. Yet we are not completely blameless. Yes we as Americans did borrow too much and did take advantage of "cheap money" but who was pushing us along all the while, it sure as heck wasn't our parents or ourselves. It was those on wall street who stood to gain on all the new money in the market. Now I've never professed to be an economics scholar, in fact I've been a verbal opponent of the basic assumption of economics. The assumption that given all the information a consumer, will act rationally and on their own behalf, I just don't believe it is true. I've seen charity, illogical behavior and had plenty more experiences where this truly is not the case. However, I do think there is some value to science and there are some lessons to be gained by our economists in thinking on a larger scale.

Yet I digress...the biggest question I think the "average American on 'Main Street' " is asking themselves is how does this effect me, what am I going to have to do differently so that I can enjoy my life to the fullest? Why am I to blame when I make my house payments on time, I pay my bills, and I followed your instructions on life, I went to college, racked up so called "good debt," in student loans, and now I'm just trying to experience life (or what I believe to be) on a moderate income and moral standing. What am I to do?

To be honest this 'economic slowdown' hasn't effected me much besides giving me more cause to worry and more conviction in my vote for president. (Fundamentals are sound? Really McCain?) And on the second point, how am I supposed to rely solely on the free market without regulation when it seems that the only people who gain material wealth (by which never seems to equate to spiritual or moral wealth) are the CEOs and stock brokers? Call me crazy; but shouldn't those with a strong affect on the community; teachers, police, government workers etc. get more reward than those who limit access to the money that has been generated by the effort of those they are trying to exclude? That doesn't make much sense to me. If you're the party of working a decent job for a decent wage shouldn't you actually work for that wage?

Yet I digress again...and I pose this question to you my reader and to you the economists at large; How is this going to effect me, and should I really be worried? Because really as of right now, despite my best efforts and strong work ethic, I'm not sure what the future is to hold, and that's the greatest "crisis of confidence" of them all.