WASHINGTON: Not just Wall Street is running scared over the US financial meltdown. The consequences now are sinking in with ordinary Americans, who worry whether their jobs, home values, children's futures and retirement plans are at risk, according to a poll out yesterday.
Eight in 10 fear the crisis will affect them directly, according to an AP-GfK poll. Yet 45 per cent of all adults still opposed the proposed government bailout. Some 38 per cent were in favour of the US$700 billion (S$1 trillion) financial rescue plan, with 16 per cent not sure, in the poll conducted from Sept 27 to Sept 30.
Ms Daphne Williams, 43, an office administrator at JPMorgan Chase, said she supports the bailout 'because I think we need it. I'm afraid if it doesn't happen, then we're going to be in trouble'.
Ms Williams, a Democrat who intends to vote for Senator Barack Obama, said she worries about her job, especially since she works in the financial services industry. And she does not know who to blame for the crisis. 'You know, I really don't know,' she said. 'It just has to get fixed.'
Banks get most of the blame for the crisis caused by risky mortgages, followed closely in the poll by the federal government for inadequate regulation. But most also put some blame on people who took out loans they could not repay.
Retiree Irene Kislus blames the federal government for lax regulation, saying the crisis did not develop overnight.
'They'd have to know over time this was happening,' she said. 'I think they kept it quiet way too long.'
The 68-year-old, who works part time at the records department of New Mexico State University, is a Republican who plans to vote for Mr John McCain.
It is a 'scary time', she said. 'The future certainly looks bleak, very bleak.'
Some 55 per cent say the government should have a role, but only a limited one, when bailing out failing private businesses. More activism by government was favoured by 25 per cent and 16 per cent preferred that the government not act.
Eight in 10 fear the increased federal debt will be a burden for their children and grandchildren. The national debt is now close to US$10 trillion.
