Americans are terrified because so many of them have been laid off in recent years and months and they fear that they may be next. Even if they have not been laid off or have not known anyone laid off they definitely know someone who has lost his home.
So much of our lives are defined by habit or what the guy next to us is doing never wondering and knowing who and what we support with our actions from the detergent Mom always used to my favorite dish I make... A lot of my life is unexamined habit.