Can't speak to that point, but...
My concerns would apply to a scenario such as: the $700B bailout proves as effective as turning a garden hose on Chernobyl and the financial sector begins its meltdown in earnest; oil prices soar like a circus balloon that's slipped from a child's fingers and the cost of living follows suite. People start to turn their anger on all levels of govenment...
My brother once said to me he thought most western societies were, at any given time, three meals away from revolution. An interesting opinion about just how fragile our societies really might be.
So the questions are, how many bad turns would it take to turn the population *really* angry, and at what point would the powers-that-be decide they had to defend themselves?