Remaining informed about the country’s financial crisis is nearly impossible for an average American.

The Dow Jones is below 1,000 points, and Freddie Mac, the second-largest mortgage buyer, has been bought by the federal government. Lehman Brothers, one of the large global investment banks, is now bankrupt. And the list continues.

Media have forgotten the people this economic meltdown likely affects. Taxpayers, blue-collar workers and students must sift through head-spinning statistics to find answers. They are begging, “in laymen’s terms, please!”

The most basic explanation is leading global investment banks failed to receive mortgage payments from home owners. As interest rates increased, home owners were unable to pay banks for their homes. Banks lost money and went bankrupt. Our current economy is the result.

The federal bailout plan, which was approved Oct. 2, is intended to rescue the financial system by buying troubled mortgages. This plan ensured borrowing could continue.

“It’s impossible to predict the outcome of this approval now,” said Doug Newton, sports management graduate student. “We couldn’t let the banks collapse under the debt, and hopefully everything will work itself out.”

Still, the specifics of the bailout plan can be hard to understand. Without a business degree, the rescue plan’s implications on the general public are mystifying.

“As students we don’t feel affected,” said College Democrats Vice President Ryan Beebe. “The rescue plan is hard to understand with all the legal jargon. The dispute among the lawmakers makes it impossible for them to spell it out for us.”

Students still remain in the dark. The media need to think about the larger audience and report on the exact details of the bailout plan.

If $700 billion is up for grabs, I’d sure like to know where it’s going, why it’s going there and what it’s going to do for me when it gets there. No future plans can be made without full disclosure. We simply can’t afford it.