CNN

ABOARD THE ELECTION EXPRESS

MOREHEAD, Kentucky (CNN)– A pretty good rule of thumb is:

If everyday shoppers coming out of Best Buy stores, out of Home Depots, out of Dick’s Sporting Goods, out of Payless Shoe Source, are talking about the Dow Jones industrial average, that’s probably not a good thing.

The Dow, for those who have made the choice not to be obsessed with the stock market– or at least who thought they had made that choice– is supposed to be sort of like the air pressure in the tires of someone else’s car: nothing you have to worry about, unless the tire blows and sends the car skidding in your direction.

The tire seems to have blown.

And Americans who otherwise would be talking about sports, or how much they dislike their bosses, or holiday plans, now are talking about the Dow, even though they‘d prefer not to. You overhear it all the time.

Because even for people who don’t have a lot of money in the stock market– or who don’t have any money at all in the stock market– the bizarre behavior of the Dow, they are finding out, is affecting their lives, and the lives of their loved ones.

On Friday we’ll have a report here about how the abject failures on the part of the executives who run Wall Street are disturbing family Christmas plans in the middle of the country. In small ways and large, men and women who would prefer not to worry about decisions made by faraway financial experts– experts they have never met– are beginning to understand that they have lost the game without ever having chosen to play.

Debbie Whitt has felt the impact of the credit crunch.

Debbie Whitt, 49, who sells jewelry in a retail store, said:

“I think people are afraid mostly because of the hype.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt put it somewhat differently, but the thought was the same. And fear itself is still real.

“We have all kinds of plans to make it easier for people to buy our jewelry,” she said. “Twelve months same as cash, 18 months same as cash, 24 months same as cash. . . ."

What that means, she said, is that the jewelry store has worked out a financing plan with banks that allows the customers to pay for a piece of jewelry over many months without having to pay interest above the price on the tag.

And customers aren’t going for it?

“They’re going for it," she said. “But the banks have become much tighter. Their credit checks are tougher. So we may sell a piece of jewelry, but then when we send the information to the bank, they say they won’t extend credit to the customer. I’ve had big sales turned down by the banks. Someone they would have extended credit to before, now they say, ‘Not at this time.’”

So the sale is canceled. The gift goes unpurchased. The store’s proceeds are lower.

Enough of this, in enough retail businesses, and jobs start to be lost.

At a hardware-and-garden-supply store in a shopping center where we stopped on our journey, there were Halloween pumpkins stacked outside the front door, with a displayed price of $4.50 apiece.

“Can’t Beat This Price,” the sign said.

But of course, you can.

You can beat it if you don’t buy the item.

Which will be part of Friday’s story about the Christmas season ahead.