A boat is foundering in stormy waters. Let’s say that boat is the credit crisis.

“Regardless of who did what,” said Dr. Reza Hamzaee, economics professor at Missouri Western State University, “we need to mobilize our thoughts and make the best decision how to take this boat to shore.”

Congress tried to bring the boat to shore Friday, giving final approval to the $700 billion rescue plan of the financial system. Local economists say a majority of the public, and even lawmakers, don’t understand the issues surrounding the plan, also referred to as a “bailout.”

“A lot of people think it’s just writing a blank check to the financial sector,” said Dr. Mark Jelavich, chair of the economics department at Northwest Missouri State University. “I think that’s the main thing that people don’t understand ... maybe some of the media don’t understand.”

Perhaps the word “bailout” caused some confusion, offers Dr. Nader Vargha, associate professor of economics at Missouri Western State University, who agrees with his colleagues that the rescue plan will keep the financial crisis from becoming “10 or 100 times worse.”

“Everybody has been talking in the press about a bailout, and that seems to create more of a negative feeling in taxpayers and more opposition,” he said, explaining that using the words “rescue plan” and explaining that the money will eventually be returned, hopefully in full, back to the U.S. Treasury, would have led to less resistance.

“Tell me who is informed?” said Dr. Pat McMurry when asked about the consequences of not understanding the issue. “This doesn’t lend itself to sound bites. This has never happened before.”

As a professor of economics at Western for the past 30 years, Dr. McMurry has watched the variables change and said “this is a new paradigm,” mostly because of globalization. In fact, he said he has used the word “globalization” more in the past two years than he has in the other 28 combined.

“When the dust settles,” he said, “the world leaders have to get together. We have to make sure this never happens again.”

Dr. Hamzaee, citing a Rasmussen Report, said people who are not learned in regard to the rescue plan will vote it down 2 to 1. However, those who claim to understand the issues are more likely to be in favor of it. The problem, he said, is that lawmakers don’t know what they should know.

“It’s like having a lawyer who doesn’t know how to defend you,” he said Thursday, before the Senate approved the rescue plan. “They haven’t represented us proper.”

Experts say the credit crisis could widen to affect businesses beyond Wall Street, if no action is taken.

Already, the situation has affected 1,000 U.S. colleges, according to a New York Times article last week. Wachovia Bank limited access to funds for those colleges in its Commonfund. However, Northwest and Western officials said they weren’t affected and don’t see themselves falling into a similar position with their banks, which are local.

“On a direct basis,” said Ray Courter, vice president of finance at Northwest, “I don’t think we’ll be impacted.”

Jimmy Myers can be reached

at jimmym@npgco.com