Another Wall Street nervously awaits outcome of financial crisis

IT'S Wall Street, but not as America's discredited masters of the universe know it.

This is Wall Street, Richmond, a quiet, mainly residential street seemingly far away from crashing banks, free-falling sharemarkets and shattered-looking brokers clutching the contents of their desks.

But it is not just Americans who anxiously wait to see if the US House of Representatives will vote for the $US700billion ($A892billion) bail-out, after it finally passed through the US Senate on Thursday.

Richmond's Wall Street inhabitants are also deeply concerned about how Australia will be affected in the coming months, while some have already felt the impact of the global economic crisis.

The sound of the US Wall Street crash filters through the radio into the workshop of artist and teacher Catherine Bainbridge as she paints.

The 63-year-old follows the upheaval closely because it has already been devastating for her superannuation.

"I am in a hell of a mess at the moment because I am changing everything, goaded on by Mr Howard's superannuation scheme, to move everything else into a superannuation scheme that will pay me a pension. I've taken everything out of shares and sold on a downmarket."

Now, she says she is "peddling like hell to keep enough to see me through and then to hand on to my (four) children".

Keely Antonie is concerned credit will become harder to get. The owner of My Urban Oasis health and wellbeing clinic, on the corner of Wall and Coppin streets, Ms Antonie has taken on extra debt to renovate her rooms, employing up to 15 practitioners.

Ms Antonie is closer than many to the crisis. Her brother-in-law is a merchant banker and husband a financial adviser. She also met Wall Street traders when she visited New York in April.

"Inevitably there will be an impact. We were already in that slide to be honest," she says, pointing to a downturn in consumer confidence.

She believes her business will be OK. "We do really well in recessions because people are pretty stressed and they can't afford holidays. They need to keep their jobs and they need to keep level heads and on track."

However, she worries for her parents, who live off their superannuation savings. "They've come from a generation of 'work your guts out and live off it when you retire', and for that generation it is really hard."

Ryn Shane-Armstrong, an American studying at Melbourne University's Victorian College of the Arts, describes the situation as the "fall of Rome".

"This Wall Street is a lot healthier than that Wall Street," he says of his charming street.

"What's been going on on that Wall Street in the last 20 to 30 years is tantamount to criminal interference. Some of us in the United States and the world could see it coming a long way off. It's the chickens coming home to roost."

Studying for a masters in community cultural development, he says the outcome of the US presidential election is likely to decide whether he stays in Australia. "If the Republicans win the White House, my wife and I will push very hard to get a PR (permanent residency status) here. I think Rome is falling. I really don't want to be there when it goes down."

Across the road, mother of three and part-time lawyer Sharn Hannan believes America is heading for recession and that if the bail-out package fails to pull it out of trouble, a flow-on effect will definitely be felt here.

Lisa and Maree Ryan moved into Wall Street 12 months ago. "When I first moved I kept hearing people talking about Wall Street and I thought, why is everyone so fascinated by where I live?" Maree jokes.

If everything goes pear-shaped, neither expect to see chaotic scenes of traders throwing themselves from windows. "I think our Wall Street is a happier place to live than theirs," Lisa says.