Be afraid...Be VERY afraid?

We're meant to be wetting ourselves with worry about the state of the economy. There are banks going under, merging, being bailed out. There are talks of 'hedging' and 'betting' on the stock markets - which has apparently been banned - and new laws being put into practice over in the states to enable the government to take over the 'bad lending' of banks.....or something.

You see, unless you have a degree in Economics from LSE, or you're a trader in the city, or have some other method to acquire a deep understanding of the economy, I think you'd be hard pressed to find many people who actually know what the hell is going on. But nevertheless, wherever you go, people suck air through their teeth and make small talk out of 'how awful the financial situation is.' Go to a school playground, a canteen, a coffee shop - everyone is talking about it. It's the thing to be commenting on.

Yes, I know Lloyds TSB is taking over HBOS (which I only realised today stood for Halifax Bank of Scotland) and I know Lehman Brothers went under. Somebody said to me yesterday: 'If Goldman Sachs goes under, that'll be a true sign of disaster,' and I nodded my head and agreed, thinking: 'Isn't that a movie studio?' (no, that's Metro Goldwyn Mayer) Everyone is going on about 'how awful things are,' and I'm sure they are, but I just don't get it.

Ok, my loaf of bread has gone up, apparently due to rising food prices, apparently due to the credit crunch, but I can live with that. I don't have any money to speak of in any bank anywhere and I'm not about to go and withdraw it in order to keep it in a biscuit tin under the bed. I have a mortgage, and I don't plan to sell my house for the foreseeable future. I don't have stocks or shares, so I've no need to worry about that. So why should I jump on the bandwagon?

Some bloke on Question Time last night - the CEO of Next I seem to recall - berrated the people in this country for getting up in arms about the state of the economy, a panic, he argued, that has been inflated by the media and exaggerated by hyperbolic language and comment.

Perhaps I am being naive and flippant. I'm sure this credit crisis, or whatever name they're currently giving it, affects many people, but until I understand it, and until somebody can explain how it directly affects me, I'm not going to jump on the panic bandwagon and potentially contribute to exacerbating the whole problem.