The silence of middle Ireland at the extent of the budget assault on their collective income has been uncanny. But then, middle Ireland does not do loud protestations of anger, nor does it wear its reduced circumstances on its sleeve.

The silence, however, doesn't mean middle Ireland casts itself in the role of acquiescent participant. Quietly but with a growing anger, it will react decisively over the effective removal of one month's income from its personal budget. It will simply stop spending.

That is the psychological impact of last Tuesday's budget. With wages down by 10%, the pension levy cutting the spending power of public servants, many working couples now single-income families and mortgage relief gone, the deflationary effect becomes even more alarming.

The representatives of small businesses are white with fear that their demise is an inevitable aftershock to last week's budget and the paltry €50m enterprise fund set up by the Tánaiste Mary Coughlan to help businesses ride the storm is next to useless.

The need to stabilise the economy was accepted. The need for a planned strategy to show how we can work our way out of the current mess was begged for. The need to rebuild our much-damaged image as an economic and banking basket case among overseas investors was undeniable. The National Assets Management Agency is a giant risk but the consequences of doing nothing are probably just as bad.

Brian Cowen and Brian Lenihan have done a lot to restore the balance sheet but the overriding question among those who are now, in their own parlance, "screwed" is: why are we paying all this tax if it's just to prop up the same old, same old, unreformed system?

This is a stage on a journey to reforming not just our economy, but our society. But if the G20 can envisage a new world order for capitalism and the Financial Times can produce supplements on the subject, can we not cog a few ideas and use them ourselves so that at least we see some gain for all this pain?