How the Financial Meltdown Has
Affected One Articulate Teenager

'I've had an NYU flag on my wall for almost as long as I can remember. It's where I always imagined myself going to college. But this global economic crisis situation thing has forced me to rethink my plans. About two months ago, my mom lost her job from Citigroup, one of the largest financial companies in the world, where she had worked for over 21 years. We all just assumed that she would work there forever. My mom's been the sole breadwinner for me and my two sisters ever since my dad died when I was just five years old. So now a lot of things are changing in my house. Like sushi, for instance. We love it and used to go out for it all the time, but now the four Abdullah woman aren't out enjoying miso soup and spider rolls together. Sushi has become a delicacy — just like college.'
--from a touching NPR on-air essay by 16-year-old Mia-Sarah Abedullah. You can read (or better yet, listen to) the entire thing here. Then, rather than feeling powerless about things, why not head over to the excellent investment advice site The Motley Fool, and graze among these good suggestions for how to react to the Panic of 2008. I especially liked the suggestion to ignore the TV circus barker/stock market commentator Jim Cramer, a Harvard graduate-turned-fixture of the idiot culture.