Headlines are practically proclaiming the end of the world.

“The U.S. economy faces the guillotine,” says Newsweek.

“Echo of first Bush: Good economy turns sour,” says the New York Times.

At least TIME shows some hope with “Surviving the slowdown: what you can do now.”

Glancing at headlines like these throughout the last few weeks has nearly convinced me that I’m on my way to Hooverville.

I better enjoy my apartment, my every meal, before they’re gone.

But after delving further into these gloom-and-doom articles on the state of the economy, I think perhaps the media are being a bit dramatic.

I think for a lot of us, the state of our country is providing us with a crash course in real-life economics, and yet another lesson on the media and discernment on reality versus information overload.

The plunging stock market, the credit crisis and the historic interest rate cut seem to paint a bleak picture of where our economy is and the direction it’s headed. Even President Bush admitted this week that the economy is not as strong as it once was.

But is it really that bad?

Jumping back and forth between stories of despair and stories that offer a sliver of hope, it’s impossible to know whom to believe, and the issue seems too complex to understand much more than the basics.

Normally economic issues would concern me only in regard to how it would affect my parents and my ability to find a summer job. Now, as I’m finishing my junior year, I see the economy from a completely different perspective.

I see it from a perspective of a young professional who will be looking for a job a year from now, who will need to find a place to live, who, once and for all, will be completely independent from her parents.

That’s a scary perspective.

I know it will get better. It always has in the past. In the meantime, I’ll keep trudging through the headlines.