The people who are nearing retirement represent the most emotionally agitated group. They continue to take steep financial losses week after week at a time when they were nearing their retirement goals. There is a palpable sense of loss among these near retirees. These people have been forced to witness the devaluation of their hard work and savings. They have watched as their nest eggs are being drained away through no fault of their own. What's worse is that many of these people believe that the bulk of their losses can never be recovered.

Some of these soon-to-retire people have almost given up hope. Some of them are making what arrangements they can, in attempts to prolong their careers. Some of them are eager to get "a pound of flesh" through the courts, but no one seems to know whom to sue. The most optimistic of these near retirees have simply adjusted the terms of retirement that they place on themselves. They still plan to retire at or about the same time they had originally planned to. However, they intend to do what they must, in order to provide the additional income they will need. These strategies include: selling assets, working part time, and using up inheritance funds that they had originally planned to leave behind for their children.

Many of the people who indicated that they still expect to retire in the fashion for which they have long prepared are now intending to work longer before they get there. In a conversation I recently had with my General Manager, she indicated that she'll be working a couple years longer than she had originally anticipated. This is entirely due to the shrinkage that her retirement savings have endured. Her outlook is among the most common of the soon-to-retire attitudes.

Of the people who have already retired, reactions to economic conditions seem inextricably tied to whether or not their retirement incomes are based on volatile assets such as stock market portfolios or speculative real estate. Those retirees who have control over their own volatile assets are relatively accepting of current economic conditions. However, those retirees who are counting on stock portfolios that they do not manage themselves, and that have suffered deep losses, have pretty grim outlooks overall. This includes most of the people who are counting on 401k accounts.

My father is one of the lucky ones of this fully-retired group. Although virtually all of his retirement money was tied up in the stock market, he took personal control of it some years ago and liquidated much of it in the last two years. He told me, "At this point (the decline) has not affected what I do ... I was able to sell at a good price, then sit back until they all dropped ... then bought them back plus more." He indicates that he is having some success by playing into the volatility of bank and energy stocks.

Those retirees who are taking income from rental properties still remain quite happy and financially comfortable. However, those who are involved in real estate speculation are becoming quite tense. The condition of their emotional state seems to be controlled by the condition of their current cash reserves. For retirees invested in speculative real estate, the bigger the cash cushion on hand, the higher the comfort level.

Strangely enough, retirees who are largely dependent on Social Security benefits seem the least concerned about our economic woes. I gathered that this can be attributed to a couple specific dynamics. First, these Social Security recipients have largely become accustomed to the concept of living on "fixed incomes." For the most part, any financial anxiety they feel existed before the downturn hit. They already lived with inflation. They already worried about their medical and prescription bills. They already knew about cutting corners. To most of them, an economic slide is just more of the same. On the upside, these retirees tend to believe that their Social Security checks will keep coming. They also believe that the amount they are paid by those checks could possibly increase.

In summary, the overall tone I encountered with current retirees and those who are soon to retire was tense. The vast majority of these people feel that they have little to no control over the current economic situation. They generally believe that any actions they could attempt to correct the situation would be about as effective as shouting curses and shaking their fists at a passing freight train. However, in their expressed helplessness, the majority of these people remain hopeful and determined. One thing is for certain though, most of these people are justifiably calling for some heads to roll.

Gary Sattler is a freelance blogger with a blue collar history in the manufacturing, retail, and service sectors. You may also read about his view of the world on www.walletpop.com.