As a famous country singer once said, “Interest is up and the stock market’s down, and you’re only gettin’ mugged if you go downtown.” Now I don’t know about the second part — I don’t venture downtown too often — but I can tell you the stock market’s down, and people are hurting.The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 777 points on Sept. 29, the single biggest one-day numerical plunge of all time.  The country has been dealing with economic woes all year, starting with the housing market.President Bush approved an economic stimulus plan at the beginning of the year that was supposed to help families and the economy. I set out last week to see how students and the Baton Rouge community were holding up during these times of economic turmoil. I figured waiters would feel the pain the most because they rely on people feeling wealthy enough to leave them a fat tip. “If you can’t afford to tip, don’t come out to eat,” says Chimes waitress Carmen Coco. “I’ve been receiving more 10 percent tips and sometimes less than that.” Coco believes there has been a slight decline in business over the past several months. “Lunches aren’t as busy. People aren’t coming in for drinks as often,” said Coco. The Chimes manager Michelle Krantz disagrees, saying, “Business has been the same.” Coco thinks the declining economy is to blame for the slack in business and lower tips.”The bartenders are struggling as much as we are because if we’re not getting our tips then it makes it hard for us to tip out to them for the drinks customers ordered.” Ned Abraham, business junior and waiter at Juban’s, hasn’t had a decrease in tips — probably because Juban’s is a high end restaurant. “I’ve noticed more of a decline in business,” Abraham said.  “There aren’t nearly as many corporate parties or business lunches as before.” Abraham believes the economic slowdown has caused the decline in customers. Abraham also works at Silver Spoon, which is a sandwich and salad shop.  Business has really “slacked off a lot” at the lunch place for soccer moms, according to Abraham. After talking to waiters, I realized there is another group of workers that rely on tips: strippers. Dancing girls need businessmen to come into the establishments and waste money like it grows on trees. Though the manager of the Gold Club refused to talk to me, Brent Higginbotham, manager of Crazy Horse Too, agreed to comment. Higginbotham wouldn’t let me talk to any women but was willing to tell me how business is going. “Business has been crappy,” said Higginbotham, “There just aren’t as many people coming in.” When I asked him if he thought the economy was to blame, the response was: “Hell yeah, man. The economy is terrible right now, and it’s not helping our business.” Louisiana isn’t the only southern state feeling the crunch. Jeffrey Taylor, owner of Taylormade Lawn care in Pass Christian, Miss., said business has been down for the past 10 months, he started to notice the decline around Jan. 5.  After talking to the competition he realized everyone is struggling. Other companies like his have had projects put on temporary hold. The lawn care business has decreased all across the Gulf Coast, according to Taylor. While I’m sure some students are concerned about the decrease in tips for strippers and the lack of business for lawn care teams, others are probably more concerned about whether there will be jobs for them after graduation or whether their loans are safe and if they can get loans for graduate school.According to a Sept. 19 Associated Press story, more than 70 companies have quit the student loan business since the beginning of the year. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives passed H.R. 6889, which allows the Secretary of Education to buy guaranteed student loans for an additional year through the 2010 school year. The bill should help students who already rely on loans to pay for tuition. “It might be a little early to see if there’s an effect,” said Tracy Evans, director of career services at Paul M. Hebert Law Center. She has been doing the job for a long time and said she thinks the law school is doing all right. “We’ve had no firms cancel for summer clerk positions or things of that sort,” Evans said.Evans could be right. With Congress and President Bush passing the bailout plan last Friday, it might be too early to tell. Everything might come back on the upside, and by the middle of next semester everything might be just dandy. But I’m not optimistic. By no means am I an economist. I don’t know how to fix the situation, and I don’t know that the bailout plan was the right thing. I do know that something had to be done. We as a country had to contain the situation. We can only hope that a complete disaster was averted, and that the market will re-stabilize itself. That way we can all go back to over using our credit cards and not putting away anything for “later.”—-Contact Matthew Gravens at [email protected]