After what many would assume would be the lowest point we'd expect to hit in the Dow, hitting the 7,000 mark for the first time in ages, I'd beg to differ. Long time bell-weather of economic resilience, consumer and retail spending in the holiday season is in jeopardy. With BestBuy in anguish, Circuit City filing for bankruptcy and holiday sales expected to slow for the first time in 25 years my prediction is that we have not yet hit a bottom in economic angst. All the bears need is to see the actual results of retail spending to drive the Dow down below to 1980 levels, and it's shaping up to go that direction given the fact that even American Express is seeking protection by converting to a bank to take advantage of the TARP scheme. Maybe every company with debt should consider becoming a bank... Still, the market overall is going to psychologically be swayed by consumer fears about the upcoming retail season. I've yet to see any indication of how the federal financial bailout plans are doing anything to protect the consumer who is ultimately paying the bill twice, once in lost homes and second in tax hikes to offest the debt. In what could be one of the greatest acts of corruption-fueled-socialism in our modern era, the bailout plans have been kept Guantanamo secret for one reason: the administration doesn't want anyone to know how the money is being used, because in reality, its a raw deal for average citizens. The financial institutions are paying themselves, and the government is ignoring the consumer.I'm still shocked how in a government so god-fearing and anti-socialist that more citizens haven't raised their hands to comment on the nature of the bailout as being completely socialist in it's nature. Even more troubling, is that it is practically an dictatorially decided, purely elitist-benefiting move that is socially funded. Read: the rich stealing from the poor. This is taking the government back some 600 years to the level of paying tribute to the royal kingdom. It escapes me how the government can endorse unsafe financial practices in the first place, and then further endorse those actions by providing more cash to the institutions responsible for the meltdown. In effect, the government is rewarding the actions of shady executives meeting at luxury retreats and ignoring those with true problems: the average consumer facing the reality of the downturn. Where are the foreclosure freezes? The interest rate freezes? By siding with the banks, it's as if the government is blaming the uneducated masses for being conned into junk debt. It's everyone's responsibility to be an educated consumer, but in extreme circumstances as we are in now, if the government doesn't side with the people, who will? And, what will happen in the next bubble in seven years? What scheme will Wall Street use to shill the moms and pops around the country next time? It seems like people never learn to distrust the Street.