Economic impact and anxiety in the workplace

Along with the many learning distractions, I found on Learning Town a survey http://trends.masie.com/archives/2008/9/26/546-urgent-economic-anxiety-in-the-workplace-survey.html to find out the impact on the workplace.
As future (and current) trainers/educators we need to be sensitive to our audience and the many stresses occurring in their lives. Having talked about the many challenges of e-learning, it is really important to realize what the economy is doing to many of our students.
People are distracted by what is happening in congress and with our banking and financial system. Many of our corporate students have potentially lost in the last week (in their 401K and retirement plans) what the make a year.
Think about what this can mean to the attention span and interest of students in what they are learning. These are unprecedented times that we are dealing with and until things become a bit more stable, we need to be more understanding and offer a safe environment for learners.