Good point about the investing style of the middle class. So far, I've "only" lost about $100k in the falling market. I'm not looking for a tall building. I think many other middle class, small investors are feeling the same way.

Sure, we're pissed because the government allowed entities such as hedge funds to exist, and we're pissed they're bailing out AIG to preserve the loss insurance of big investors. By the time they're through, they will have transferred enough of my tax dollars to AIG, etc. to equal my losses if all my investments turned into penny stocks. In other words, they're charging me more to save my investments than it would cost me if all my investments went away, which they could very well do in the end, in spite of pissing away all that tax money.

But I digress. The point is, most of us middle class folks didn't sink everything into one company or one fund. We have CDs, whole life insurance policies, savings bonds, a second house, etc. Not all of us ran out and got an interest-only home equity loan so we could buy GM stock. Even if it comes down to serious Great Depression style living, many of us paid off our homes and bought our cars with cash, so the finance companies can't come chasing after our assets. We could retreat to the little house in the woods and shoot dear out of season, just like my great uncles did during the last depression. We've spent our lives living modestly, adjusting our expectations to reality. Well, some of us have. We didn't expect to live like millionaires, so we're not in a huge panic at the thought of living on a few thousand bucks a year. We know we could do it.

I'm a law-abiding citizen and certainly would not want to run afoul of the hunting laws. To save me the time and effort of researching it myself, could you give me the in-season dates for shooting dear?

(Sorry; I just couldn't resist a little jab at a typo with such dire consequences. I think you'll agree that we're nowhere close to being reduced to cannibalism. Yet.)

I think you've summed up the position and attitude of a huge swath of Americans. There are, however, several groups who might suffer more acutely than some: those who were on the cusp of moving up from one (perceived) economic/income bracket to another--whether it was from barely managing to make ends meet to being able to relax just a smidgen of a fraction, or finally having enough to begin considering a second home or first agressive investment plan; those who were preparing to begin retirement but without having a conservatively planned base to their plan; those swamped by catastrophic medical situations, and those left without a job, no reserve to fall back on, and no clear prospects for timely re-employment. On the whole, the groups I just mentioned tend to be younger rather than more mature people. The principal danger to them will be the lack of whole-life "seasoning" to help them weather the next few years. We can only hope they will have the right connections (family and friends) to help them scrape through, if only by the skin of their teeth. My maternal grandfather was able to keep his 80-odd acre farm through the Depression due to the sufficient--though not bountiful--support of his former father-in-law. (First wife deceased; remarried fairly quickly due to needing a companion and a mother for small children.) I can only hope that those in dire straits now will find that they do indeed have the backbone and sufficient resources to manage a life now and build a new and better one.

In the 7 stages of grief, you are only on stage 1: shock and denial. <link> Stages 2,3, and 4 are going to be hard on you.

I am not interested in shooting dear (sic.) though. Say, was that a Freudian slip?

I am already on stage 3, myself. I am more interested in shooting a politician or a mortgage broker. Do you know when season opens?

Soon, I expect.

And don't forget the rating agencies like Moody's and S&P, who gave these subprime "packages" high ratings that didn't reflect their real risks. Hope there's a season on these folks, too.