By KATHLEEN PENDER, San Francisco Chronicle

Should you keep paying your mortgage?

If you have significant equity in your home, absolutely.

If you don't, it's getting harder to answer that question, especially when our government keeps giving people who owe more than their homes are worth so many reasons not to pay.

On the campaign trail, Barack Obama proposed more than a dozen tax changes that would affect individuals. The net effect would be to raise taxes on higher-income people and reduce them for low- and middle-income ones.

One of Barack Obama's most crucial and challenging jobs in the White House will be stabilizing the economy and re-engineering the financial system.

What do financial and economic experts put at the top of the next president's to-do list? Here are some ideas:

- Restore calm

One of the few things going up since the financial meltdown began? The U.S. dollar.

Around midyear, as the credit crisis intensified, the dollar ended its seven-year losing streak and started rising against most currencies except the Japanese yen, which is soaring for reasons I'll get to below.

Some analysts say the market appears to be going through capitulation, a period of heavy selling marked by pervasive gloom, when investors ignore good news and throw out the good with the bad.

Many, but not all, bear markets end in a capitulation. When everyone who wants to sell has gotten out, a modest influx of buyers can lead to big gains.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Volatility on Wall Street has most people running for cover. Others are reaching for a measuring stick.

Counting Tuesday's 508-point plunge, the Dow Jones industrial average is down one-third from its high a year ago.

How does that compare with previous downturns?

Almost everybody knows there is risk in the stock market, a hard fact underscored by Monday's frightening plunge on Wall Street.

But with the financial crisis reaching epic proportions, people are starting to ask: How safe are my safe havens?

Here's a look at the most popular places people stash their cash: bank deposits, money funds and U.S. Treasury securities:

As Congress debates a mammoth bailout and Wall Street struggles to regain its footing, here's how the pain brought on by the national financial crisis is being felt on Main Street, in the living rooms that lie at the heart of the economy.

Denise Hillman, of Martinez, Calif. says she has lost sleep over her investments, but hasn't made any changes to her portfolio.

Let's answer some common questions from people who are wondering how the financial crisis could affect their savings and investments.

Q: I heard that the plan to insure money market funds does not cover tax-exempt funds. Why?

The federal takeover of insurance giant AIG has consumers wondering: How safe is my insurance policy?