Nearly nine out of 10 people who responded to an Argus-Courier online survey Oct. 9, 2008 say they are very concerned about the global financial crisis.

Nearly 90 percent of respondents (85.7 percent) said they were “very concerned,” while 10.7 percent said they were “somewhat concerned.”

More than four out of five respondents (82.1 percent) said the financial crisis has affected their daily financial decisions.

Asked if they agreed with the $700 billion bailout plan approved by Congress and the president, half of the respondents were not sure, while only 3.6 percent said yes and 46.4 percent said no.

Here are some of the comments by those who responded to the survey:

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“When I see the incredible amount of bloat and waste in the American lifestyle ” fat cars, fat people, fat packaging, throwaway products ” I can’t help thinking that hard times might help us regain our national soul.”

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“Creating more federal debt to buy up loans that people can’t afford and banks shouldn’t have made seems irresponsible. I would much rather see Wells Fargo or B of A buy up these marginal assets for pennies, instead of putting the burden on responsible taxpayers.”

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“The rich keep getting richer while the rest of us pay for it. The ordinary people in this country have absolutely no representation in this government. Vote them all out and start fresh.”

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“I don’t think it is right that I have to pay for other people’s lack of common sense in purchasing a house when they couldn’t afford it.”

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“The root of the national financial crisis is the insane cost of gasoline. Consider how much gas being twice as high as it should drives up the cost of everything. I have had difficulty in making ends meet for eight long years. I am not looking forward to any kind of recovery unless gas prices are forced to go down.”

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“Gamblers who own ‘the houses’ resources know that ‘the house always wins,’ and in this case the addicts got their fix paid for by taxpayers. Bamboozled by the Russians, Chinese, Saudis, etc. The U.S. is $10.5 trillion in debt. We will never be able to pay it off. Never. Nor, will most of us pay off our credit cards. Does the downward spiral ever end, or are we a debtor nation who will be forever enslaved by money based on nothing tangible?”

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“I put much of the blame on people who knew they could not afford a home, but just had to have one. Not just a small home but a high-end home that they really could not afford. I also blame the mortgage companies who knew these people could not afford these home but gave them those creative loans anyway. Now the mortgage companies are crying, the people who bought homes and should not have are crying, and the whole world is in a crisis because of these foolish people. There are many people out there who want a home, but knew they could not afford one. I applaud these people for their good sense. Unfortunately, they are now in this crisis along with those idiots who brought down everyone with their need for a home and their greed to make money off these people without a clue.”

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“The Bush legacy: Two economic incentive programs, one war against WMDs (still not found), one financial crisis and the doubling of our national debt. I’d call that a failure.”

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“The greedy SOBs on Wall Street should be arrested and put in jail along with the overseers.”

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“My wife was just laid off and now she’s always home.”

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“Making no changes right now. I have consultants I trust. We need to look at the economic health of the whole world.”

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“If the Democrats, e.g. Barney Frank, were not so concerned about passing money out to people who could not pay it back, we would probably find ourselves in a different situation.”