Brakes broke

driving home in my pontiac, i stopped at a red light and yawned. i pushed the brake pedal down a little farther than necessary during the yawn...and then i saw some white smoke or steam coming out right in front of the driver seat under the hood (i think where the brake fluid is). i pull over because i lost most of my braking power. when i push down, i can even hear (and see) air coming out from the bottom of the car. a hose is probably broken. i've never fixed anything on a car before and spending a lot of money on this pontiac half broken pos seems like a waste. how much would it cost to get a reasonable mechanic to fix it? how much would it cost me to fix it? is it a difficult?

how much would it cost me to fix it? is it a difficult?

Well, first cost is dependant on exactly what "it" is and on the going rate for whatever mechanic you take it to. Get the car home or to a friends house (tow via pickup, if possible...tow trucks are expensive). Have a friend mash on the brake pedal while you look in the engine bay and under the car for the source of the leak. You probably have a brake fluid leak somewhere and the smoke was caused by the fluid buring off on the exhaust manifold.

If it is just a hose, then you should be able to do this yourself for fairly cheap. Other issues would depend on your mechanicking ability. For the most part, if you can get a replacement part in decent shape from a junkyard and replace it yourself it should be a fairly cheap fix....but no telling because we don't know what "it" is.

metal hose broke. it costed 100 bucks....but supposedly all of the metal hoses are rusted and i'm supposed to go easy on the brakes.