But don't forget - you don't lose money on these investments until you sell. Historic trends show that the market will bounce back, so if you hold on to these investments, you should be okay.

Of course, it's easy to say that, but a lot harder to truly believe it. I'm in the same boat you guys are in. I'm no Warren Buffett by any means, but my family's savings are largely tied up in the stock market. That's retirement money (401 (k)) and my son's college fund, so, yeah, I'm nervous too. Even before yesterday's drop, the market already had been in a major slump in the past year or so.

However, I keep telling myself to thing long-term. By the time I'm able to retire (or by the time the boy starts college), the market should be healthy again and things will be fine.

The people I feel for are those folks who are reaching retirement age. This downturn certainly could have a huge impact on their ability to retire.

And thanks for the kind words, Geoff. You're a pretty thoughtful, reasonable guy yourself!

Also, amidst all of this, I wonder how ANYONE can continue to defend the policies of George W. Bush.

I think Bush is the worse President we've ever had, but to be fair, this can't be blamed on him.  Congress is every bit as much to blame.

As far as regulation/deregulation goes, it's inaccurate to say a lack of regulation caused this problem, as I understand it. There literally are tens of thousands of pages of laws governing the capital markets. It's one of the most heavily regulated areas of business.

Now, if you want to say we need better and smarter regulation, then there may be some merit in that.

But I wonder how much of this is really within the government's power to fix. How much of this was caused by irresponsible behavior by companies and individuals?

I read an interesting column recently about how Americans no longer view thrift as a virtue. Our grandparents' generation believed in saving and conserving. But we now live in a credit card society, where millions of people live beyond their means. Corporations have adopted the same "casino" mentality, trading in prudent business practices for the go-for-broke pursuit of easy money.

But how do you change this culture? I have no idea.

I think Bush is the worse President we've ever had, but to be fair, this can't be blamed on him.  Congress is every bit as much to blame.

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Not to mention banks, mortgage lenders, homeowners, etc. Trying to pin this mess on any president (Bush or Clinton) is like blaming them for a flu epidemic. There's plenty of blame to go around in this mess, and the Executive Branch is only one small part of it.

Our grandparents' generation believed in saving and conserving.

In no small part because of the Great Depression! The question is will this current crisis bring about new fiscal conservation or has the consumerism which you allude to, too ingrained in our national psyche to effect change?