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What a difference a week makes... Last Monday's Daily News featured three front-page articles on the cautious optimism of local retailers, consumers and financiers about the eventual rebounding of the economy and return of "people's desire to shop." Today's top story—a wire story picked up from the Associated Press—proclaims: "High anxiety on economy: Magnitude of financial meltdown starting to hit people hard." Ouch! Nothing cautious or optimistic there.

From today's report:

The share of people who believe the country is moving in the right direction has plunged in just a few weeks, from 28 percent in September to 15 percent in October. ...

At the same time there is a drop in those surveyed who say they are happy about the way things are going in their lives.

One-third of people are "worried about losing their jobs," half don't think they can keep up with bills—mortgages and credit cards, in particular—and two-thirds of those surveyed said that their investments were losing value.

Where are you at? Do you fit into the cautiously optimistic picture sketched in last week's articles? Or are you pulling your hair out in worry?

In other news, a standoff in Le Roy kept police there busy for two hours Friday night and into Saturday morning. A Darien man is accused of setting fires in an apartment, attempting to kill a woman there and slashing at a police officer with a knife. Jonathan J. Connolly, 30, of Darien, was charged with seven felonies. Connolly eventually had to be taken down with a taser gun. Reporter Scott DeSmit has all the details on this incident featured in today's local section.

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