This whole financial meltdown here in the United States has me stressed out. Sure, I'm already stressed out from grad school and work, but this just adds to it. The strange thing is that I know I have no personal reason to stress over this country's financial crisis. I'm not one of the masses who bought a house I couldn't afford; unlike those people, I actually put a huge down-payment on my house and can afford my mortgage with no problem. My job is stable, and I'm nearly tenured (and considering how much my boss loves me, I'm guessing I'm pretty safe until the tenure goes through). My money is FDIC insured in the bank, so it's mine even if the bank goes under. And most importantly I'm only 33, so I have no plans of retiring anytime soon; therefore, my pension can drop for now because I have time to ride this out.

Since I'm financially sound, I'm pissed off at everyone else for making me still stress out over this situation. I'm pissed at this administration for allowing things to get this bad. I'm pissed at all the banks and mortgage/broker companies who were driven by greed. I'm pissed at the stupid Americans who couldn't face reality and live within their means so they borrowed more money than they could afford to pay back. I'm pissed that this whole situation is going to affect so many things in our culture that we probably don't even realize yet. I'm pissed that people keep bitching about the education budget in California being cut when the governor decided to cut 10 percent from ALL government aided agencies. I'm pissed that because of this financial mess, property taxes aren't being paid by some (even though mine are extremely high and I have to pay them) so the lack of money will trickle down into everything we depend on, from our schools to the police and fire departments, to the local public library. I'm just generally pissed off at people's stupidity and greed.

I'm trying to do the best I can. I don't spend money if I can't afford something. I didn't even take out a loan to pay my graduate school fees even though I'm attending a private school (since I had no options but an online program). I haven't been paid since last June and I've forked out a bunch of money this summer for summer school, but did I make that anyone else's problem? No. I simply tapped into my emergency fund a bit until I get paid next month with my first check of the school year. Are things tight for me now? Sure. Am I making that anyone else's problem? Absolutely not.

So, fuck you greedy Americans. The greed flows from the top down. Fuck you for making me worry about the state of our country...and the world...when I've been trying to do everything right. I have enough stress in my life. I've even been taking it out on the people I love most. I just want to deal with my own problems and try to help those who need an extra hand, not because they fucked up, but because life just handed them shit for luck. So fuck you to everyone who got our country involved in the mess. Fuck you for stressing me out.