Call it a free night of education.

Finance and Economics lectures are suddenly is great demand. Troy residents packed into the community room at Troy Bank and Trust Monday for a "financial crisis" lecture.

Katrina Means attended and spoke for the majority when she said what she was interested in learning about.

"My future," Means said. "Things like retirement and mortgages. Because I am a single parent right now, and I don't want to make a mistake that will affect my future."

Dr. Judson Edwards is an associate professor of economics at Troy University, and a presenter Monday night. His goal was to explain the fundamentals of the economy and show current trends.

The most worrisome trend Dr. Edwards sees is current inflation coupled with today's lower income levels.

"1996 real income compared to today is actually higher in 1996 than we have today," Dr. Edwards said Monday. "So when you couple that with inflation and you have unemployment at a 5-year high this month, we have some serious issues here in our economy that we have to address. It's beyond what is just happening in the financial sector."

Robert E. Stewart has been teaching real estate finance for 40 years. So who better to clear what what he calls common misconceptions like the term "government bailout?"

"When you hear the term bailout, people think it's the federal government giving people some money," Edwards says. "The federal government in this instance is not giving anybody any money. They are buying assets from the financial institutions; the federal government is getting an asset in return. They are not spending money, they are investing money."

Stewart says is commercial banks are not allowed some relief to make loans to businesses; a lecture will not be required to explain the impact.

"If businesses retract, I think the general public can understand that language. They will have to lay off personnel. Unemployment will jump up. Income will go down. And our economy is in a mess."

Troy University officials say the lecture will be available online in a few days. If you would like to check it out visit: business.troy.edu