"Bob, I got a bad feeling on this one, all right?"

"I mean I got a bad feeling!"

So is it time to panic yet?

The Dow Jones industrials plunged below 10,000 Tuesday as traders turned away from stocks amid worries about the global economy and tensions between North and South Korea.

The Dow fell 206.51, or 2.1 percent, to 9,859.76. It closed at 10,066 on Monday and has fallen 1,346 points, or more than 12 percent, from its recent high of 11,205, reached April 26.

Investors also exited the euro and commodities including oil and again sought the safety of Treasurys. That sent yields and interest rates lower. The benchmark 10-year note's yield fell to its lowest level since April 2009.

World stock markets also fell sharply.

Well, panic probably isn't the right word, but things are definitely getting hinky again. It's only going to take one major incident, and there are more than a couple of potential ones out there, to cause the markets to take a major drop. My bet is on a double-dip recession, caused mainly by events in Europe, but exacerbated by our own fiscal insanity. The madmen in North Korea could get the ball rolling too though. Take your pick.

You can spread the blame around, but I think history will lay most of it on President Obama. Had he chosen to govern like the moderate he claimed to be, he would have checked the worst excesses of Pelosi and Reid. He would have focused on fiscal stability after getting the banks on their feet and calming rather than alarming the business community. Instead, he scared the hell out of them and they hunkered down.

A steep drop in the markets is going to make everyone hunker down again. The job cuts will not be as severe, but that will be little help to those already unemployed. Fasten your seat belts, it's going to get bumpy again. 

Update: I was pleasantly surprised to see that the markets rallied late this afternoon and the Dow ended down only 22.82. That's good to see after this morning's 290 point plunge. How much to read into that I'm not sure. Things still seem pretty fragile, but -22 is a damn sight better than -290.