Ross Mitchell is so fiscally conservative that he won't play bingo.

Mention the federal bailout to the 80-year-old Mr. Mitchell, who stretches out a pot of spaghetti for a week and drives a used Ford, and his arms start waving.

"Let them pay their own bills," he said yesterday, his voice rising a few decibels as he sat at a table at the Elizabeth Seton Adult Enrichment Center in Brookline. "I have to do it. They are going to use my money. This is all a big cop-out."

He catches his breath before proclaiming, "We need a tea party in this country."

Retirees, who generally have the least flexibility when it comes to their finances, have watched the unraveling of the American economy with a mixture of resentment and resignation.

For those in their 70s and 80s, who only bought homes when they could afford a 20 percent down payment and didn't put their families' groceries on credit cards, there's a sense that the very fundamentals that built this country have gone haywire -- and to disastrous effect.

"Basic principles were not being adhered to," said Fred Henning, 86, who spent yesterday morning watching Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's testimony on television in his apartment in Upper St. Clair's Friendship Village retirement community. "This is more frightening to me than anything I have ever experienced."

In the short term, neither Mr. Henning nor Mr. Mitchell is affected financially by the turmoil in the markets. Mr. Henning, who worked as an engineering manager at Westinghouse, has a secure financial future at Friendship Village and Mr. Mitchell, a retired electrician, lives on about $1,000 per month in Social Security payouts.

Financially, retirees should be more insulated from market turmoil than younger workers, having shifted most of their assets out of equities and into bonds and money markets, said Alicia H. Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. But psychologically, the events of the last few weeks and months might be more frightening for retirees than for those still in the work force.

"They really have less time for things to bounce back," she said. "It seems so imminent and pressing and final than it does for someone who is young. ... People are scared and they don't know what to do."

Even in April, before the most severe market meltdown, retiree confidence was at its lowest point in the 18 years that the Employee Benefit Research Institute has conducted its annual Retirement Confidence Survey. Only 29 percent of retirees said that they were confident of a secure retirement, down from 41 percent in 2007.

More than the drops in the market, falling home prices are likely to affect retiree confidence for those planning to supplement their Social Security payments and investments through home equity, said Jack VanDerhei, EBRI's research director.

Short of going back to work, the only financial option for struggling retirees is to cut expenses, he said.

But retirees who have managed their money well should not be panicking right now, said Jim Meredith, an executive vice president of Hefren-Tillotson who hosts a Sunday morning KDKA radio show on personal finance.

"It's emotions versus reality," he said. "For well-designed investment portfolios providing retirement income, they're going to weather this downturn. The doom and gloom factor is very prevalent right now for individuals of all wealth levels."

Sam Miller, 75, a retired sales manager in Collier, lives off of his investments, in addition to his Social Security check and a pension. But he is confident that the market will rebound, and says he is not worried about his personal finances.

He supports the bailout because he believes that the country has no other choice to save the economy. But he also believes in consequences for those responsible.

"The people that were at the top of this and caused this, they should go to jail," he said. "They really should, because they took other people's money and got them in trouble."

While Mr. Henning is not worried about his personal finances, he is deeply troubled about the future of the country.

He remembers not only the time during the Great Depression when his family couldn't afford a loaf of bread, but also the days when you knew who your mortgage lender was, and the lender knew you.

For him, the bailout is regrettable, but necessary, to keep the economy functioning.

Mr. Mitchell also doesn't have to worry about his investments taking a hit -- because he can't afford any.

His modest brown brick house, a few doors away from the senior center, is paid for, however, and he rarely uses a credit card.

"I don't have a lot," he said. "But I am not like them, looking for a handout."

Over a lunch of chicken and rice within the mauve walls of the Brookline senior center, he and his friends shook their heads at the lavish lifestyles of Wall Street financiers.

"I think the bank executives should make restitution to everyone who lost their homes and are behind in their property taxes," said Ted Fritzley, 79, of Brookline. "I feel sorry for them."

"There is a lot of people who are losing their homes. Would they bail them out?" said Margie Ferris, 69, of Beechview.

While Mr. Mitchell also feels for homeowners who are losing their homes to foreclosures, he thinks many people bought homes beyond their means.

To him, Wall Street's fall is a symbol of our free-spending, pay-later, credit-card society.

"I think the whole country is buying things they can't afford," he said. "They get an iPod and they have to put 2,000 songs on it. I put on the radio and listen to music for free."