How would feel if you were one of those Congressmen who switched their vote on the Bailout Bill? 

After your constituents send emails at a rate of 100:1 against, and after being disgusted with an industry that paid 27 year-olds fresh out of MBA $300,000 a year to start, you deep-six the Bailout Bill only to see the market tank 777 points. 

"See," the Bill's supporters tell you. "Failure to pass the bill could lead to a stock market crash."  So you suck in your gut, ask for a million dollars so a paper airplane museum can be built in your district, and reverse your vote. 

You're feeling good.  The market has been rising ever since the Bailout Bill was first defeated in anticipation another bill will be passed.  On Friday, the day the vote is taken, the Dow is up 300 points into the vote.  You vote yes.  The Bailout Bill passes.  You've done the right thing.  You've saved the financial system.

But then, as soon as the bill is past, stocks collapse.  And it does not stop when the market closes on Friday.  The market careens down on Monday, so much so that from 2pm on Friday until 2:45 pm on Monday - slightly more than one full trading day - the Dow has fallen 1270 points, top to bottom, a 12% decline.

The market is like the pretty girl at the bar who has been cooing into your ear all night. When the night is over and she has given you her phone number, you find out your wallet is gone.  And the phone number she gave you isn't hers.

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I covered almost all my remaining shorts today, except for hedges, leaving me slightly net short.  I expect to get net flat within a day or two.

I think today's 430 point reversal off the lows at 2:45pm may - may! - signal a near-term bottom.  Even if it does not, the market is down 35% from the highs last October to the lows today.  Continuing to press the short side is tempting fate.

Given the tremendous decline as of late, and the extreme pessimism I am hearing, a snap-back rally is possible.

I might even get long, just for a trade.