Uneasy Americans watch and wait

Business is in limbo as consumers wait to see whether the bailout will help them

Relief on Wall Street over the hard-won passage of a $700 billion bailout package for the financial system apparently hasn't trickled down to the pubs, storefronts, car lots and malls of Main Street.

"People are afraid," said Linda Morrow, who owns a shoe and handbag store in a Dallas mall. "People basically don't know what the future will bring. They're afraid to spend. They want to see what the bailout will do. They're waiting till after the election."

In more than two dozen interviews with The Associated Press across the country over the weekend, Americans described those concerns, from tighter personal credit to worries about small businesses to doubts about simply making ends meet.

Matt Watson, a 41-year-old sales manager at a showroom of motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles in Morgantown, W.Va., said his family has cut back on dinners out and is buying more generic products.

The other day, he grabbed a $5 bill off his dresser and headed to a Walgreen's drugstore for milk and bread.

"I could not buy milk and bread for $5," Watson said, shaking his head in disbelief.

Aimee Robinson needs a $200,000 loan soon for her business, which sells eco-friendly furniture in Seattle, and wonders whether the bailout might ease the way. The interest rate on her store's credit card just jumped to 17 percent from 8 percent.

"Everything came to a standstill" this summer, she said.

"It hit me really, really bad."

An AP-GfK poll released last week before the House passed the revised bill found Americans divided on whether they supported the bailout. But a solid majority, eight in 10, said they feared the financial crisis would hit them directly. Many said they were conflicted, lamenting that taxpayers had to step in but believing something had to be done to prop up the economy.

Among that type of adherent is Morgan Cavanaugh, owner of a 75-year-old Irish pub that sits a few blocks from Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland. Standing behind the weathered mahogany bar, he said the bailout stinks.

"I don't believe we should let them off the hook," he said. "Either we pay now, or we pay later. To me, it's extortion."

As for business at the bar: Cavanaugh has lowered drink prices for his customers, a crowd heavy with bankers and brokers. He calls the special the Bankers' Booze Bailout Fund.

Last year, Pennsylvania auto dealer Bill Rosado's customers had no trouble arranging financing for the cars and trucks they bought.

Those days are gone. A customer with decent credit who might have been approved for 100 percent financing not long ago is lucky to get a loan at all today, and even then the interest rate is almost guaranteed to be higher.

"The people with horrible credit, I can justify saying, 'No more,' " Rosado said. "But this is affecting people whose credit isn't that bad."