Banks are tanking, Wall Street's in turmoil and world credit markets are freezing up.
Toss in a contentious presidential election and there's fuel for heated discussion at work.
Experts say it can be best to limit — or avoid entirely — political talk at work, but when the economy and politics start affecting employees' everyday lives, it's going to seep into their conversations.
Still, Marilyn Pincus, a local author who wrote "Everyday Business Etiquette," said it can be best to just avoid the topic at work.
"This is a really contentious time," Pincus said. "We're going to be electing a president, and there are very strong opinions on both sides. We're getting bombarded in the news, on television and on the radio, and people who don't share your opinion may get annoyed."
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But some say political banter is fine as long as employees stay respectful to each other and they let workers who aren't interested in sharing their point of view stay out of the conversation.
If you're talking politics at work, the conversations should be limited to five minutes, said Aaron Witsoe, president of Creative Business Resources, a Phoenix-based company that provides human-resources outsourcing to medium and small businesses. That gives employees plenty of time to find out each others' views — any longer and it could reach the point where employees are trying to sway one another's opinions.
And that's where problems can emerge.
Unfortunately, Pincus said, when someone knows where you stand on the political spectrum it can have a lasting effect that extends beyond an election or the immediate issue at hand. A co-worker who disagrees might see you in a different light if you unleash a political diatribe, she said.
Also, if your political leanings counter that of a supervisor, you could miss out on a promotion or even have your job at risk, Pincus said.
"We would like to think these things don't effect us," Pincus said, "but everybody's human."
Keeping politics to the break
Bernice Lewis, a department manager at Wal-Mart, said political talk isn't taboo at her work so long as the employees keep it to break time.
For the most part, the employees respect one another's different opinions, she said.
"They can get kind of intense," she said. "But a lot of people don't do their homework and don't know the background."
Lewis, 45, said she's a Republican and a supporter of presidential candidate John McCain, but she has voted for Democrats in the past.
Earlier this year, media reports swirled that Wal-Mart was urging employees to vote Republican out of fear a Democratic victory would force the company to unionize.
Still, Lewis said she hadn't heard of any policies dictating political conversations at work.
The economy and the financial crisis are the main topics of discussion, she said, and the presidential election is more frequently discussed than local issues. Politics has come up in past elections, but it's especially pertinent this year, given the current financial crisis, she said.
The topic comes up at Shelly Welsh's workplace, but she said she usually stays out of the conversation.
"I don't talk politics at work because it can get pretty heated," said Welsh, 48, who works in the Pima County Public Defender's Office.
She said she doesn't hear any arguments about it, and the people who talk about the issues are generally people who agree with each other. No one pressures her to join the conversation, but when she hears people talking about it she usually stays away, she said.
Pincus, the business etiquette specialist, said if someone does try to pull you into a political discussion, you can always politely tell them you have no opinion on the issue, or pretend you don't know anything about it, and change the subject.
Don't rush policies
When it comes to employers, there's no real need to create policies dealing with political discussions until it becomes a problem, Witsoe said. Introducing such a policy might spark the very political discussion you were trying to avoid, he said.
Randy Sanders who owns local financial management firm RP Sanders & Co., said politics isn't a topic of discussion at his workplace, though they do talk about economic events.
"We kind of deal in facts, not rhetoric," Sanders said. "You can't get involved in rhetoric when you're dealing with people's money."
Since they are financial managers, Sanders said, the government's $700 billion bailout plan has been a topic of discussion. But his employees talk about what effects it might have rather than its political implications.
Sanders, 62, said he hasn't formed any specific policies banning political discussions and he doesn't know why for sure no one talks about it. It just seems like it doesn't come up, he said.
"Everybody's a pretty serious worker," he said, "and they all do work."
After all, said Witsoe, a business is a business, and the idea is for the company to make money, not have its employees get involved in personal or political chit-chat.
But if people feel free to talk openly about pretty much anything at work, an employer can't expect to alter that the month before an election, Witsoe said. "You can't have a culture one way and then just change it," he said.
Talking politics
The old cliché on the two things you shouldn't talk about at work — politics and religion — is the rule of thumb for those versed in business etiquette.
But for the rest of us, here are some tips for dealing with politics at work:
• Be respectful.
• Limit conversation about politics to five minutes. That gives plenty of time to find out where everybody stands without the conversation getting too intense.
• If you don't want to talk about politics, and someone asks a direct question about where you stand on the issues, tell that person you have no opinion and change the subject. But don't just ignore the question.
• Know what's appropriate for your workplace and remember that what you say at work could come back to haunt you.
• Leave the political posters and bumper stickers at home.