How will a stock market crash effect America?

Nowadays the average American has more stocks than was once the case. The 401k plans are stuffed full of them. And when those plans loose value, there will not be a lot of happy campers any longer in Disney World.

First of all the stock market has not "crashed"

But the stock market does effect most Americans whether they own shares themselves independently or with mutual fund products,

Mutual Funds, retirements plans, 401 plans etc, they are all invested in the market so when the market drops the value of the plans also drops,

Banks and other institutions feel a market drop, when they have to pull bolster some of the collateral that they have supporting loans.

When the stock market drops many times it is felt in other markets - commodities - precious metals - currencies.

The problem we're having to day is not only in the stock market but with the price of oil. Oil is be driven up in part by the liberal thinking of the US, where the country is prohibited from drilling oil on their own land, this along with the taxes imposed on gasoline and with the country taking the approach while trying to work with agricultural products as a fuel replacement. The US is the only country in the free world using its food supply to produce fuel.

So the markets effects all Americans in one way or the other,

I am not sure how a stock market crash will effect the average american, however I can see many forces gaining momentum that appears like they will have a very negative effect on people.

The price of gasoline is steadily rising. The price of food is steadily rising. The value of the dollar is steadily falling. There are large layoffs coming from many large corporations. The housing market is forecasted to continue to decline through the year 2009.

There are many other factors I could list, but I think you get the idea. Personally, I have never seen so many negative factors come together at the same time.

An average American that does not have stocks will be impacted by a market crash when employers curtail spending to try and maximize shareholder value. Earnings will fall across market sectors as investors pull funds from suspect companies that are not meeting expectations. That will impact job markets and result in lay offs. However, that would happen if the market collapsed as it did in 1929. I do not expect that type of overreaction will occur.