Transcripts

Investors Share Their Anxieties About Our Nation's Economic Uncertainty

PAUL KANGAS: As lawmakers hash out just what will go into the Treasury's $700 billion bailout of the financial sector, Main Street America is trying to hash out what happened. Jeff Yastine talked to investors today and found most people remain conflicted about the rescue plan.

JEFF YASTINE, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: As main streets go, this is one of the wealthier ones in the nation: downtown Coral Gables, Florida. But people here are watching with as much anxiety as anywhere else as Wall Street and Washington try to resolve the crisis. Bryant Esquinazi, an attorney, wonders where the blame lies for the mess that caused last week's bailout proposal.

BRYANT ESQUENAZI, ATTORNEY: What would make me angry is if this could have been avoided, and if it occurred due to some lack of government participation. In another words, if certain regulations that should have been in place weren't in place.

YASTINE: As Americans ponder the Treasury's bailout of Wall Street, people are uneasy with the solutions being proposed and the choices lawmakers will be forced to make. The values of both stocks and real estate have dropped sharply, yet many, like Kathy Pareto, wonder what is worse, a plummeting stock and real estate market or Washington's efforts to help resolve the situation.

KATHY PARETO, INVESTOR: I have mixed feeling because it was a lot of greed that went on on Wall Street for the last several years, and a lot of missed opportunities by the regulators to really step in and do something more practiced before the stuff hit the fan. And it's going to cost the taxpayers a huge sum of money that our children will be paying for some time.

YASTINE: At this Charles Schwab (SCHW) office, things were quiet. Branch manager Chris Duffy says the phones were ringing last week when the Reserve Fund's primary money market fund "broke the buck." He says the financial bailout isn't on customers' radar yet.

CHRIS DUFFY, BRANCH MANAGER, CHARLES SCHWAB & COMPANY: The retail client responded to when a money market broke the buck. Retailer client responds to when it's the first news story on every news channel. But the bailout is not something that is really affecting them one way or the other, we haven't had a lot of feedback on the bailout yet.

YASTINE: The rhythm of life here continues at its usual casual pace, but many Americans think it will be a long time before it will be business as usual for Wall Street. Jeff Yastine, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Coral Gables, Florida.