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After weeks of rhetorical bombardment by politicians and the press, Main Street is speaking out – Main Street, Flushing.

The Queens hub may not conjure images of classic Americana, but the eclectic mix of commercial, transportation and residential centers is as good a cross section as any of middle-class America. And the word on Main Street isn’t rosy.

“I think the key is the confidence, it’s really not the economy itself. People get scared. Most of us have never experienced anything like that in their lifetime,” Kevin Xu, a Queens real estate agent, said.

Confidence was a big part of the problem for many of the Main Street-ers.

“My 401Ks are down. I’m waiting for my quarterly statements. I’m expecting it to be full of red,” Harold Specter, a retired professor from Bayside, said. “The big problem is loss of confidence. Nobody thinks the economy is saveable.”

Some said the federal rescue plan was inevitable and necessary, but many expressed doubts about the $700 billion solution.

“They speak so loosely about the outcome being positive, that I seriously think that they even think it’s gonna have an effect,” David Pinero an unemployed Flushing resident said. Pinero was aloof about his own prospects in the face of the crisis. “I’m already unemployed, I’m already destroyed,” he said.

Others were similarly aloof, but maintained some hope that the rescue package would have a positive outcome.

“Has to be done,” Tim Martello, a Bayside business owner said as he waited for his bus. Martello said the credit market is making business harder with each day.

“Credit’s a lot stricter than it has been in the past,” Martello said. “Your daily sales outstanding, instead of being the normal 30 to 45 days it’s now 15 to 30 days.”