WASHINGTON (AP) -- As the economy continues to struggle, the public is growing increasingly concerned about losing jobs, not having enough money to pay the bills and seeing their retirement accounts shrink, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll.... By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Read the full story.
Seems to me that it's all part of a "Chicken Little" syndrome, with mass media playing Chicken Little. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sky_Is_Falling_(fable)
Why wouldn't they. They have the President, using words like crisis, catastrophe, worst economic situation since the great depression/WWII, (which isn't even true) etc... every other sentance. What do you expect the media and people to think. If you say something enough times over and over, people start to believe it. You know like, hope, or change.