How has the economic crisis affected you?

Over the last few years economists have been expressing increasing concerns about the direction the global economy is going in and the possibility of a worldwide depression. They have been warning about the growing global imbalances in the world economy and the consequences if not corrected. Now, because things were not corrected, the economy is in a crisis and its affecting everyone in one way or another.
I personally have not been majorly affected by the economic collapse, but it’s the small things that the economic collapse has disrupted that I have noticed affecting myself as well as my family members. For example, student loan companies have been majorly affected by the crisis which has made it a lot harder for me to take out loans for college and/or the amount I need. Thankfully, Congress approved, through the 2010 school year, a program that will allow students who rely on loans to continue their educations regardless of current difficulties in the private credit market. House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif) said, “With market turbulence showing no signs of letting up, it’s only prudent to make sure that students have every assurance that the federal student loans they need will be there next year. Our rough economy is already dealing a huge blow to Americans families and we can’t allow trouble in the credit markets to further price students out of a college degree.”
Another thing that has affected me is the price of gas. Although, recently, gas prices have significantly lowered, there hypothesized to rise again, which is a real inconvenice for me. I live in Connecticut and my grandmother drives me to school and back about five times a year, which has really put a dent in her wallet. During the summer, one trip down to West Virginia cost around 300 dollars in just gas and that doesn’t even count the gas she paid coming back. Thankfully, since the gas has lowered we only pay about 100 dollars or so on gas when I get dropped off at school, but with gas prices expected to rise again we really can’t afford to spend 300 dollars on gas.
I haven’t personally been affected by the rise in food prices because my grandmother takes care of that, but I do know that when she gives me money to go shopping some of the food is extremely overpriced. Sometimes I go to the store and spend 100 dollars or more on necessitates, and if it’s a holiday like Thanksgiving we can spend 300 dollars or more on food; it’s ridiculous! I know many people in my family who have lots of kids that are going a lot of problems with the cost of food. The more mouths to feed, the more money needed, and with the rise of cost, I know plenty of people who aren’t eating like they would like.
The economic collapse is a horrible scary time and I have been blessed to not be as affected as some but still it’s not helping me in anyway. The way things are going it doesn’t look like its going to get any better, either. Statistics show that two-thirds of Americans believe their children will be economically worse off than they are. The cost of housing, health insurance, education, and furl is rapidly rising. Prices in real terms of housing, education, and health care have risen nearly 300% in the past 30 years, while individual incomes are stagnant. The amount of monthly income it takes to buy a house today is nearly 23% vs. 17% in 1970. People who use 50% of their income for rent or mortgage payments are at an all time high. The average home price adjusted for inflation in 1970 was $115,000.Today it’s two times as much in real dollars ($219,000). In many markets it's four times more (475,000+). Private and public college tuition us up nearly 300%, the average debt of a college graduate is nearly $20,000+. A majority of Baby Boomers expect to work beyond age 65 because they can’t retire. The saving rate for the average American 30 years ago was 9%; today it is at zero. America has fewer manufacturing jobs (14.3 million) then it did in 1950, with two times the population. U.S. household debts exceed $12 trillion and U.S. federal Deficit is $ 8.8 trillion and is climbing every second. With statistics like this it’s no wonder why the economy is collapsing.