Our trade for gross domestic products never have an excellent benchmark since Bush's eight- -year-long administrations and thus I'll fight for a trade policy that rewards more foreign markets as means to boost more jobs for Americans. I'll also take action to increase pressure to the World Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) by enforcing trade agreements to spread good words on our labors, skills, expertises and standards to the world, and to stop countries from continuing unfair government subsidies to foreign exporters and nontariff barriers on U.S. exports. At the same time, I'll curb any devalued activities that will put U.S. at the position of low currency or dollar devaluation.

I'll urge world leaders to reconstruct a complete economical framework to boost the world's and America's economic growth. To voice my concern about the financial crisis, I'll work collectively with the world's leaders from other countries and teams of economical experts as a measure to introduce the new opportunities for prosperity and cooperation among the America's Congress members and also among other countries. This is important to develop a more effective and comprehensive economical framework in order to promote stability and growth in our Wall Street share market as well as other international financial markets in a macro scale.

America's Economy Policy

More dollars will be allocated to rebuild our own economic structures as a measure to boost a steady economic growth in America. I want all my people to have better jobs, better payment and better future. I want the progress to bring to America, in which our economy is stable, living condition is good, people here have good jobs and live peacefully while working whole-heartedly with me to fight off the global financial crisis that we're facing at the moment.

As president, I know the difficulty of my people to struggle and suffer for seeking employments so I'll introduce more foreign investors to our country to create more jobs for my people here. My members will continue working very hard to strive for the lower fuel price we could ever get by introducing fiscal policy into our financial framework so that the pressure is not felt much by the Americans.

The peace and growth mean a lot to America as they're both important elements for America and the world as well. Therefore, I urge you all not to discriminate among each other just because of religions, educational backgrounds, skin colors, social and financial status. Whether it be pure Americans, African-Americans, Chinese-Americans or any other American races, we're all living under one same flag of America, and thus we should care for each other to rebuild a strengthen family so as to stimulate our economic growth and nation building. I urge you to work with me for the betterment of the United States!

I know that some of you are annoyed with the failure of deregulation and poorest function of the Free Market that have caused you to pay for higher tax, educational fee, home mortgage, retirement plan and other daily expenditures, so I'll work very hard with a brilliant economic team to find a better solution to solve your problems.

Task ahead will be tougher as I've to clear up 8 years of George W.Bush's term, but I promise you that change will be introduced to our economical system. I want to see healthy and stable economical growth back to our country where people can afford to survive.

I'm sad to learn that the minimum wage had not changed for the past 10 years before the Democrats took back Congress. Even the minimum wage is scheduled to rise to $7.25 an hour by 2009 this minimum wage is still not enough to cope with the purchasing power among the consumers. I'm extremely sad to learn that the purchasing power is well below than that in 1968. People who work full time shouldn't be allowed to live in poverty. To solve this problem, I'll raise the minimum wage and increase the Earned Income Tax Credit to ensure that full-time workers could earn a living that enables them to pay for basic expenditures (food and drink, transportation, education, clothes), housing, and miscellaneous needs.

I'll ensure every home and business in urban and rural America to easily get broadband Internet access at a lower rate that can be affordable by low-income people to help them start business with the world. To ensure the success of my plan, I'll reshape the Telephone Universal Service Program, and direct the FCC to better manage the nation's airwaves as ways to encourage public-private partnership to have more low-income communities engaged actively in a global business.

As promised in my election campaign, I'll provide $1,000 dollar emergency energy rebates, which would be sent to working families immediately to help offset the cost of spiking energy and food prices. Over a 5 year period, these rebates will bear by a tax on the excessive profits of oil companies. Additional $50 billion will also be allocated to promote funding for state and local government services and for fast-tracked infrastructure projects. Apart from this, I've also considered long-term investments in training, education and workforce development, scientific innovations and creativity inventions, R&D research are essential to create more entrepreneurs, high-wage jobs that will definitely bring prosperity to my country and to a world economy.

Energy and Environmental Policy

As promised in my election campaign, I'll implement Cap and Trade Program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to its minimal level. I'll ensure my cap-and-trade policy be effective immediately to ensure all industries pay for every ton of emissions they release to our environment. I've also promised to strategically allocate $150 billion over 10 years to accelerate the commercialization of plug-in hybrids, promote development of commercial scale renewable energy, encourage energy efficiency, advance the generation of biofuels and fuel infrastructure besides investing in low emissions coal plants. I'll encourage for any clean, sustainable energy sources (solar, biomass, geothermal, solar and etc.) for energy consumptions in government offices, private sectors and home users.

As president, I want to help private sectors to create more green jobs for my people. At the same time, I'll invest in programs to help upgrade America's highly-skilled manufacturing workforce and manufacturing premises to ensure workers have skills in the green technologies so that a thorough green policy can be attained effectively.

To promote the green air policy, I'll provide a $7,000 tax credit for the purchased of advanced designed vehicles which release zero or little emissions to the air. Dollars will be allocated for plants that produce the cheapest, cleanest, as well as energy efficiency electrical appliances and transports so that it'll save consumes on paying higher bills.

Climate change is a global issue caused by a tremendous development and unexpected man-made products. As my country is the largest producer of greenhouse gases, I'll lead America to reduce greenhouse emissions by using clean-burning renewable energies and biofuels. Meanwhile, I'll arrange appointment with the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) and any other related environmental organizations to address my views on global energy usage, environmental concerns and solutions via international forums, press conferences, exhibitions and seminars to help raise the environmental awareness and to combat the environmental issues the world is facing now.

U.S. Military, Security Policy in Iraq and in America

I'll invite a group of Baghdad journalists, a few westerners who have been serving in Iraq and a press conference and those who've living in the Red Zone for a chat. From this meeting, I'll have an opportunity to understand more about the Iraqi life and the sufferings they faced in the past war. I'll respect their freedom of speeches and opinions as I know they're people who have experiencing the nightmare of the war than anyone in the U.S. embassy or the Iraqi government themselves. They are people who could tell me a lot more about the present condition in Iraq. Of course, I'll ensure strict protection is taken for my personal security to avoid the terrorist attack or any unexpected attacks.

I'll order my senator to invite community leaders, NGO members, investors, press representatives, and the world's politicians to meet around the table to share their ideas on what they think might be the appropriate and the best ways to retreat the U.S. troops from the land of Iraq. From here, they share their invaluable values with me which will later help me to shape a new Iraqi policy.

I may also prefer to meet the world's delegates, members of government offices and parliament mostly from Iraqis to attend for my informal chat. Once they get pass the elaborate security checks at the main entrance to the Green Zone, I'll meet their arrivals with my Iraqi translator. Those who're here for a random selection for this informal chat will earn themselves a freedom to speak in front of me under a strict security protection. I'm pretty sure that these Iraqis will deliver me plenty of their opinions, views, facts in Iraq, and suggestions that will eventually help shape my personal views on foreign policy, and U.S. military.

I'll take my courage to strongly oppose Bush's war strategy in Iraq. And I must admit and feel sorry for the wrong attacking strategy America taken under Bush's U.S. military policy which has caused many casualties for both Iraqis and American soldiers. I'll address my deepest condolences to the deceased. I believe that the end of the use of torture and extraordinary rendition is essential at the moment, as many experts have disapproved that torture is an effective method of interrogation. The use of torture may have put my troops serving abroad in a great threat. Also, this torture is wrong and cruel in a moral standpoint. Due to these reasons, the practice of torture and extraordinary rendition should be abolished.

Reducing the U.S. troop in Iraq is essential to apply less pressure on the Iraqi government. My commanders will take a new mission: ending the war in Iraq. I'll also work together with the Iraqi government to protect the American diplomatic and other parties, and if under certain threatened condition, I may have conducted targeted counter-terrorism missions to ensure the world's peace. I'll assure to the world that aggressive and permanent bases will not be built in Iraq, in order to achieve the stability while reducing hatred in the Middle East, and at the same time, I'll address my personal views on Iraq's humanitarian crisis and its solution. In a nutshell, I'll reestablish U.S. Moral troop and leadership to restore the confidence of the world towards America's position, fame, and reputation particularly in dealing with foreign laws, economical growth and political policy.

I'll close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Centre which has been served as a recruiting mean for America's enemies. I'll develop a fair process to distinguish those who should be prosecuted for their crimes in justice, and those who should be released or transferred to their home countries based upon the rules of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Though I strongly against the war but I'll not hesitate to order military force to take their new jobs if America is under the threat of terrorists. Therefore, I'll always ensure that my troops are strong, healthy, agile and lethal to take their painstaking posts to either capture or kill terrorists who pose a direct threat either to America or to the world. I do not want to see 911 events recurring in America. To achieve this goal, I'll ensure that America is equipped with strong armed forces to help challenging the toughest jobs. Next, I'll boost our military troops to have the ability to speak several languages so that they'll understand other people's cultures, religions, and customs better and also to better target the terrorists in a global context.

America's security earns my foremost consideration so I'll ensure every American is safe in their homeland. I'll assure Americans with a series of homeland security programs to make our land of America safer and more secure to live. With regards to the prevention towards the natural catastrophe, I'll recommend trainings and tests in all my administrations. I'll provide them with necessary equipments, supports they require; reallocate the risk group to a safer place; improve the emergency respond to catastrophe or human errors by investing the required and related resources; increase the security in railroads, airports, ports, industrial plants, transit system, roads and streets, education institutions, legal firms, government offices, multinational and private companies, nuclear and chemical plants, public infrastructures, other critical facilities and people's safety.

Remark:

Tonight (the victory's night), we've made a history in the United States. Change has come to America. The road ahead will be toughest and challenging for us to explore, but I'm here striving with you to ensure every of your dream coming true in our beloved motherland of the United States. I'll never forget that the victory belongs to you and I promise you that we, Americans will get there. Trust on me and believe that America can change. Together we're standing on the land of the United States and I'm here to make your dream coming real for a better life, better future and better global and economical prospect. May God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America. Long life, America!!!

I am not into politics, and this message to you is in no way political.

As all my messages, this is about marketing and if one man has been able to turn to marketing to turn over an entire country, how can you not believe in marketing for yourself and your business.

Rule 1: Show the problem, offer the Solution

When you have a product that you want people to know about, you show them the problem and how your "product" or "service" can solve it. Consumers don't purchase something if they don't have a need or want for it.

President Elect Obama targeted with just that in mind. His entire campaign focused on the current want (and some say need) of Americans: CHANGE. He is offering a solution to the problem andat the minimum he is offering the hope that is necessary for that change.

Rule 2: Social Media - Go where your target goes

No other political party in history has targeted a political campaign with such high tech and with such marketing intensity. There is no doubt that social media marketing works, and with Facebook and other social media networks I found throughout the past weeks also represent that. People who have the same believes, the same need or want (aka, CHANGE) gathered in strengthsthru online communities of supporters and pulled together.

Rule 3: Online Marketing - Keeping up with today's marketing venues

President Elect Obama's campaign included online marketing. Although I won't go into the obvious benefits of online marketing, I will say that he and his team beat the competition by thinking outside the box. They marketed and advertised where his opponent didn't even aim.
Now we know that there is no doubt that tonight's election will go down in history. The question I ask you tonight is do you still consider that marketing properly is not worth it for yourself and your business? Not even in today's economy?

Our ever devoted-publicly elected- officials have decided that it is in our best interests to supply big business with a seven-hundred-billion dollar bail out. Thank god! I can’t begin to tell you how many sleepless nights I have spent worrying about the professional pickpockets on Wall Street. I have been so concerned that some of them may have been forced-dare I say it-to sell one of their exotic cars. Or even worse, be forced to place one of their homes on the-how did they put it a few months ago-stabilizing housing market.

The mere thought of these sadly desperate individuals being driven to condensing down to one modest home, two cars, public school-and god forbid two jobs-has kept my stomach in a constant state of twisted turbulence. However, just as the big money elite were teetering on the brink of hurdling themselves from their twentieth story office windows, government has stepped in to insure us each and everyone that it is all going to be ok.

Now I know there are some of you out there asking the self important question-what about me? Always have to be thinking about number one huh? Forget those poor unfortunate souls, who have spent a decade hiding their deficits and fabricating profit; it’s all about you now isn’t it? Where is your relief? Who is going to bail you out? Well rest assured my self-centered little friends, help is on the way.

The rumor fluttering around Capitol Hill is of a second round of stimulus checks. Isn’t that great news? I know that the first ones were a BIG HELP. I can’t bring to mind one single person who was unable to pay off an eighth of their ever accumulating credit dept, and now they’re talking about another cool grand for everyone. Yippee, hooray, and hell yeah!

Ok fun and games time is over kids, it’s time to talk serious for a minute. Congress has enacted an economic bail out plan for Wall Street, and they are discussing more stimulus checks for the rest of us. But I honestly want you to look at the big picture here. The majority of the companies who will benefit from the bail out are in the position they are in due in large part to questionable business practices. Things such as buying risky loans in an uncertain market and sweeping profit losses under the rug are questionable business practices. The offenses are committed in the hopes of increasing the company’s image on paper, in turn creating a more valuable stock on the open market.

The risky loan business is one of many keys to the steep tumble of our housing market. The banks began to place loans in the hands of people who normally would not have been able to secure such funding. This was done in the hopes of boosting a moderate but steady market. In a sense, this plan worked. It introduced the market to people who normally would not have had the ability to purchase a home, in turn creating more new home sales. Upon seeing the increase in new home sales, builders-with no real knowledge of what was happening-became excited and built more homes.

This is where things started to go wrong. Once again, the deep pockets of the generous banking sector stepped up. They began to loan more money. This time putting it in the hands of anyone looking to build new homes with it. The builders-now with more working capital than they had ever seen-took this opportunity to stand out in a rapidly growing market. The homes became larger and more desirable. The price tags on these homes began increasing also. In an effort to push the homes-which they funded-the banks increased the quality of risky home loans they sold. As things kept climbing right along, the banks kept dishing out money on both sides of the fence. Now with all of this hand shaking and money flowing, it did not take long for things to step beyond the limits of the rest of the economy.

At this point, big business was playing a tricky little game of their own. As the losses of an unstable economy began to pile up, the profits began to fade away. In a desperate attempt to keep their heads above water until the housing market could lift the rest of the economy, companies started fudging the numbers. Losses were hidden in the closet, and profits were doctored to appear more appealing. The idea; make the stock look good, and people will trade it. Now everything was full steam ahead.

Enter a drawn out military campaign and rising fuel costs. This is where it all turns south. With no apparent end to the messy situation in Iraq, Wall Street began to stumble. This-combined with consistently rising fuel costs-quickly took its toll on the American Consumer. In big business the profits continued to dwindle, and the losses mounted. In the housing market things were much worse. Suddenly rising living costs forced consumers to step back, and those who had already purchased started to default. In short, the economy pulled a complete one-eighty and bit everyone squarely on their proverbial asses. Now we-the American Taxpayers- have been forced into the unfortunate position of bailing them out in the hopes of saving the failing economy. The failing economy which they created I remind you.

Now I do not possess the exact figures on this next atrocity, but trust me it exists. Now the leaders of these failing companies and banks-the very ones benefiting from the bail out-are walking away with huge incentive packages; in an effort to show that steps are being taken to correct the problem. That’s right friends; the very businesses and financial institutions that are bankrupt as hell, are paying their CEOs large sums to walk out the door. Now here is a real kick in the ass. Do you think these same CEOs will benefit from the stimulus checks, and the mortgage bail out? Think about that one for a minute.

Imagine it this way. You go gambling in Las Vegas. The man next to you loses everything he has. The casino owner approaches the two of you, and you learn that the man next to you aided the casino in obtaining a license or two. So now the casino owner turns to you and takes everything you have to give to the man who lost everything, and then they begin to make their rounds taking from others-like yourself-and giving it to the man who was next to you. This man leaves the casino with more money than he came to the show with, and the rest of you leave with bunny ears. Would you stand for that?

I am not a highly educated man. I am a high school graduate who lost his business in the now deceased housing market. I have found that I have a knack for telling stories, and I have a lot of them to tell. Therefore I am attempting to make a living selling these stories to those interested in reading them. What I am trying to say is; if an idiot like me can see what is going on, what’s your excuse? Open your eyes America. Big business and big oil are running our economy and lives into the ground, and our top notch government officials are allowing it to happen. For the right amount of money, any politician will turn his or her back on anything. These guys are not looking out for us. They are quietly looking out for their own bank accounts. This country needs to take a stand and tell these people no, we will no longer stand for these actions. The question now-and it will take someone far more intellectual than I to figure it out-is how do we fix this? How do we prevent the destruction of this country we all love so dearly? How do we stop a corrupt government and greedy financial system from tearing our America away from us?

I'm lost today because the truth is not available.  The truth of what is going on in the world economically either doesn't exist in one place or is simply being covered-up.  The reasons for the economic collapse seem varied, vague, and vacuous.  And in a scientifically-based world such as ours, this is difficult to fathom.  The truth appears to be hidden, unknown, and maybe even lost.

But is it?  Is it really hidden?  Or is it right in front of us just waiting for us to recognize it? 

For a long time, people have allowed others to control their actions, people have justified their indecent and immoral acts through ignorance and deceit, people have contributed, both knowingly and unknowingly to a political, social, and economic system that oppresses, dominates, and exploits - and it's all justified because we all need to live, we all need to feed our families, we all need to survive.

As Tolstoy points out, it is our need to survive that enables the people in power to "hypnotize" us into doing their bidding, to make it seem as if our actions are not our own and are the State's or the City's or the Company's actions instead.  And so we commit horrible crimes and do the work of the wealthy and the powerful because we think the consequences of these actions will come down on someone else.  In the meantime, we barely eek out a living for ourselves and our families.

We also have many false ideas about our situation.  We have unusually unwavering faith in people with money and power and we often think of them as omnipotent and omniscient and so must have our best interest in mind.  Even if they do keep a great deal for themselves, they'll also always make sure we get what we need in order to survive.  And they don't just make mistakes, I mean, look at how stable things are around us.  This is what many thought before this economic depression, either consciously or subconsciously.

Now that we're in a depression, we're beginning to see that maybe those people with the money and power were too few and did not have the best interest of society in their mind and actions.  Maybe it is as many philosophers and scientists have stated before, that those in power really only cared about themselves and their own families and friends.  Knowing that we realized this too late, we're stuck to deal with it and we still do not have the information we need in order to make informed decisions.

The current depression is not caused by peculiar nuances of large financial institutions.  Rather, it is ultimately caused by our ignorance, by our refusal to learn about and acknowledge the truth, by our insistence that our economic, political, and social society is good for everyone and everything when we know that this is not true.

Will we lose jobs?  Yes.  Is there anything we can do to stop it?  Yes. 

We can start telling people the truth about our situation, the truth that we are in the position we now find ourselves, if we are working people without ownership of the means of production, we do this because we fear the consequences of not doing it: starvation, struggle, poverty, ridicule, not being able to take care of our families, etc...  We do not work because it is best for society.  No.  We do not work because it is a public service that is needed and without it the society will fall apart.  No.  Our motives for working have nothing to do with altruism or doing the right thing.  No.  No.  No.  We work because we fear the alternative.  Recognizing this and professing this to others is all we have to do if we want our situation to change.

"A man cannot be placed against his will in a situation opposed to his conscience.

"If you find yourself in such a position it is not because it is necessary to anyone whatever, but simply because you wish it. And therefore knowing that your position is repugnant to your heart and your head, and to your faith, and even to the science in which you believe, you cannot help reflecting upon the question whether in retaining it, and above all trying to justify it, you are doing what you ought to do.

"You might risk making a mistake if you had time to see and retrieve your fault, and if you ran the risk for something of some value. But when you know beyond all doubt that you may disappear any minute, without the least possibility either for yourself or those you draw after you into your error, of retrieving the mistake, when you know that whatever you may do in the external organization of life it will all disappear as quickly and surely as you will yourself, and will leave no trace behind, it is clear that you have no reasonable ground for running the risk of such a fearful mistake."

Leo Tolstoy in "The Kingdom of God Is within You" 1894

General Colin Powell is a respected military and political figure in the United States. He has a colorful military career in the United States Armed Forces and a well applauded Secretary of State during the early days of the Bush administration.

It seems that the switch of allegiance is long overdue. The past few months, Colin Powell has shown displeasure at the way the Iraq war is being handled by the Bush administration. Having been a former Chairman of the US Joint Chief of Staff, Powell knows what he is saying with regards to the Iraq war.

On some occasions, during the campaign, John McCain criticized Obama's lack of knowledge and experience to act as Commander-in-Chief of the US Armed Forces. Colin Powell's sudden switch and support for Obama could just be the answer to McCain's tirades on Obama's lack of experience, not only as Commander-in-Chief but as President of the United States of America

It is likely that Powell will take an active role in Obama's administration, should he wins the US Presidency. Such a situation will serve as a balancing factor in Obama's perceived weakness in handling the affairs of the US Armed Forces.

On the question of Obama's religion as a factor in the choice of a US President, Colin Powell was quoted to have said: “He's always been a Christian” But really right answer is: “Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this Country? The answer is no, that's not America”.

In another development, it appears that John McCain is ready for the inevitable defeat in the hands of Obama. He was quoted as saying that he would not feel sorry for himself if he lost and said further that he will not dwell on it. He acknowledges that Obama is ahead on most counts but he said that he relishes the chance to make a shock come back. He said further that he loved being an underdog.

The next few days will be crucial for both candidates as pressing economic issues require political solutions. And the candidates' formula for the resolution of these issues will play a critical role in influencing the voters choice for the US Presidency.

Sporting bets are an all or nothing proposition. Once the wager has been made it is all over. You win, or you lose everything. In the stock market, though, you have the option of getting out before you lose everything, or you can opt for a better horse in the middle of race.

Another is that the companies you throw down on will take that money to advance their own cause. It is seed money for growth to attract more investors. Most companies on the exchange have come to rely too heavily on this new capital, and are for all intents and purposes gambling on what they may receive, to develop their strategies.

The stock market is also very large, diverse, and immensely complicated. An almost incalculable amount of money changes hands every day. To work in the business, one must be a highly educated professional; and unlike sports or Para mutual betting, entire trust and retirement funds are wagered on the exchange. The sad truth is that the exchange has been elevated to such a status, that most people don't really consider it gambling. Like it or not, though, it is; and one way or another it effects everybody.

Now recent events have conspired to cause a nearly cataclysmic upheaval in this important segment of our economy. Most of them were predicted, and if we had responded correctly we would not be in nearly the trouble that we are. Unscrupulous lending practices in a flush economy, and the over development and over inflation of the real estate market began the problem.

When the real estate market began to adjust, values fell and building slowed down. At the same time a significant portion of the sub-prime mortgage loans began to fail. Banks were left with a debt and cash flow problem. They could no longer secure funds in order to continue lending. Meanwhile, some workers in the construction trades began to lose their jobs. At that point the problem was isolated to just one segment of the economy, but the media dutifully reported the meltdown. The rest of the blame for the current debacle rests on the shoulders of the public, and the government.

The government, for its part, should have had more control of those industries in the beginning, and then not have been so slow to respond to the fallout. The rest of it is on the citizens, businesses, and corporations.

The real estate market was just in adjustment. It is really not an unusual event, when looking back on long terms cycles. The layoff of construction workers represented only a small and temporary downward spike in the employment rate, and the failed mortgages were not largely due to people losing their jobs. Most of these loans were given to people who did not qualify, and the only way that they could get into a home was on an ARM (Adjustable Rate Mortgage) that allowed them to pay the interest only for the first few years. When the higher rate kicked in they could not meet the payment, and neither could they sell the home because of the slumping real estate market.

Instead of understanding the problem, though, there was wide spread panic. People tightened their purse strings, businesses stopped hiring, and corporations began divesting and realigning. Higher fuel prices only drove prices up, and before long sales fell. Then people did start losing their jobs. Now, not only did less people have money to spend, it exacerbated the alarm and caused the people who did still have money and jobs to become even more tight fisted. This of course only made matters worse and accelerated the downward spiral.

So let us go back to the stock market. The value is down; and part of that is real, but it is also due to perception. Sales are down for these corporations. Many of them still hold debt accumulated from speculation during better times. Those who do not, have little equity and are bleeding what they do have as investors continue to bail out. Add these to the fact that they have no fresh capital to work with; it makes them statistically unattractive. The perception is, though, that the stock market is a bad risk, and this is not necessarily so. One just needs to be more careful.

Now, the government has assumed the banking debt and lead the public to believe that this will make things better; and it may in the future, but how can it immediately when there is panic in the land. In Nevada, where gaming rules, Casino revenues have dropped for five consecutive months. When people worry about, rent, food, and fuel, some things become expendable. Likewise investors have become unwilling to stay with the stock market, but the more they balk the worse things get. Companies get weaker, values diminish, and the perception of risk becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

It is not all bad news, though. There is money to lend. The dollar is weak; making American companies selling abroad a good bet. Real estate is cheap. Stock is cheap. Do the research, and make the smart moves. There is money to be made in this economy.

Fear, however, is a hard monster to slay; but unless investors quit hoarding, there is almost no end to how bad this could get. Who has the courage to step out and restore value and confidence? Who is going to get people working and spending again?

Don't wait for the government. It's going to take everybody.

Then they could enact very strict oversight and corporate governance regulations that hold all "golden parachutes" totally out of the picture by eliminating them totally. The regular American that does a lousy job would never be allowed that kind of uplift.

After all of those responsible were held accountable then those who did the worst for the companies by breaking laws should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. This would make the remaining corporations and companies more accountable to the public who really own them by supporting their products and services with patronage or with buying habits.

This would be how I would go after Wall Street plunderers and profiteers by simply holding them accountable for their actions.

First, it should be necessary to make an oversight committee with powerful regulatory powers to manage this multi-billion dollar investment of the taxpayers money. This responsibility should not be allowed in the hands of only one person. The oversight committee should consist of 6 senators and 20 representatives with one person being appointed as chairman from the private sector and by congressional approval. Second, our elected officials should enact a corporate governance oversight legislation to keep our corporations from getting our economy back to this point again. Third, the congress should enact powerful legislation that would overhaul the hedge fund market and futures markets. The lack of oversight in these arenas are the biggest reason we are in the current meltdown on Wall Street.

If our congress can get this kind of plan up and going, we Americans can again take a more respectful view of them, otherwise, they walk away with the same old smell. We Americans expect better of our elected officials and should get better than we do at the present time.

As time goes along, we go about our normal lives, or at least as close as possible to normal, doing the things that we do and rarely think about the larger picture before and around us. We go to the grocery store and buy gas and other consumer goods but never consider how tose products get to us. Because of our complacency we have overlooked the reasons we are now here.

Every American should stand up and shout that we are simply tired of the wealthiest among us reaping all of the rewards and little to no risk if they fail. We Americans can do better than this!

A grassroots movement is needed to get our elected officials to look our way instead of the lobbyists and power brokers getting the attention from them. Every person among us has a right to be angry with our government about the nonaction in regulating the current crisis before it happened.

Okay, so I’m going a little over the top but the bubble has burst and it’s time to rethink the way our airlines and airports are structured.

So how did it happen? Why weren’t we warned? Whose fault is it?

The truth is that we were warned - and have been - quite endlessly for the past year or so. Do you recall hearing anything on the news about rising oil prices? Governments going green, implementing regulations and taxes on high pollutants (Airlines included)? This has been coming for a very long time and those in the airline business knew it.

Were customers warned reasonably? Despite the damning headlines in the press, the short answer is no. The company gave no indication that it was going in to administration at any point before three in the morning (A stupid time to do so in my opinion) on the twelfth of September 2008. Customers were left stranded in airports, some at home, many others abroad, with no insurance cover and no way home.

Though I sympathise with the customers completely, I am forced to ask a looming question. Why would XL want to warn its customers? Sure, it would save a lot of bad press and anger, but they’re going in to administration. Like it matters, if stranded people wish death to the company. It’s already dead or dying.

XL has been in trouble for months. They’ve been living in credit and the rising costs of fuel were sending them deeper in to the red. Indeed, all airlines are in a similar spot right now, but XL’s pockets were just too shallow to keep it afloat in this sea of rising costs and falling demand. It was sinking. There were a few safety net packages offered to keep the sinking airline afloat, but they had all fallen through and finally, XL had had enough and called it a day. They hung up the bailing bucket and went under.

If you are still asking yourself, ‘why didn’t they warn the customers it was about to go under?’ then I will ask you something. Would you? If your business depended on consumer trust and not on price - as there are many budget airlines doing exactly the same job for a similar price – would you damn yourself to fail if you weren’t completely sure that it was over? I know I wouldn’t. Had customers had been warned, ‘By the way, we might go in to administration soon, so make sure you’ve got some other way to get home or you’ll be stranded’ then I doubt that any customer in their right mind would book a flight with them, no matter how cheap. It would be suicide. That is why there are people stranded in cypress and other places. It is unfortunate but entirely justified.

So, knowing what we know now, can we lay the blame on anybody? It would be a little unfair to blame the airline, but I’m sure that many unhappy customers will do just that. If you have lost money due to this, it is probably because you paid for your flights with a tender that is not covered by consumer protection laws. If you paid for your flights using cash, cheques or non-visa debit cards, then I’m afraid to say that there’s nothing that you can do and that if you see even a penny of that money again, you can count yourself very lucky indeed.

Other tenders such as credit cards, visa cards and insurance-protected purchases are protected by a range of laws, designed to protect the consumer from just such occurrences. These lucky souls ‘should’ get complete refunds (in time).

So it’s all fine and dandy telling you who will be left out of pocket, but whose fault is it really? One word, ‘cartel’. If you’re still confused, I’m talking about the Middle Eastern oil cartel, of course. OPEC holds all of the cards as far as oil production and control is concerned. They hold a huge amount of the oil that can be peaceably drilled in the world, and there is overwhelming demand for it (and they know it).

OPEC knows that by restricting the supply of oil, they can drive the price of oil through the roof. Wanting value for money – after all, greed is one of the deadly sins – that is exactly what they are doing. Oil prices are rising and companies that once thrived on cheap fuel are now beginning to falter and fail. Budget airlines are just some of the casualties that we will inevitably see in the future.

Just because we blame OPEC, doesn’t mean that they are doing anything wrong. Indeed, if there weren’t laws against it in this country then cartels would be rife. It is an efficient way to make a lot of money from a relatively small pool of recourses. It is, fair enough, unfair practice but you could argue that it is capitalism in its purest form, the search for the best price for a product that is produced as cheaply as possible. It might be unfair, but starting a war over it is a little extreme. The bush administration did so, but I’m in no position to comment publicly about such things. I’m just a economist, not a politician.

I digress. What then, is your point, you ask?

I have been rambling on and on about how and why XL collapsed, but I have not come to a concise point thus far. So, here it is! ‘This was always going to happen, but it’s not the end of air travel’ (Disappointing, no?)

Yes, this was always going to happen. There’s only so far that costs can mount up before one of two things happen. Either prices are forced up through necessity or companies attempt to absorb the costs in order to remain competitive. The latter happened in this case, and XL is just one of, I’m sure a string of airline takeovers, mergers and collapses that will follow as those smaller businesses run out of money with witch to absorb the rising costs.

My prediction (and you must understand that it is only a personal prediction) is that we will be left with two or three large airlines competing in the long haul sector, and a similar number of short haul airlines. The amount of competitors will, indeed fall. This means that budget air travel will become a thing of the past, however I do not predict that prices will rise too drastically, unless something disastrous happens and we end up with a single ‘Microsoft-style’ airline, the likes of witch we might see from a big BA/AA merger that is being discussed currently. I think this because, although there will be ‘less’ competition, there will still be competition. Furthermore, with fewer airlines around, current airlines will need to grow in order to fill the gaps. This will inevitably lead to a more efficient air travel system and airlines will begin to gain from economies of scale, witch they will undoubtedly pass on to the consumers to remain competitive.

This is not the death of air travel. It is the death of budget airlines and the consolidation of our air travel system.

As I stated before, this is only the side that the media has given us. I, personally, am disgusted by the Canadian government for allowing this family to think that they could live here, and purchase a home, and then just kick them out. It isn't fair in my mind. Especially when they were going to open a business which is great for our economy and would provide new job opportunities. It is possible that they only wanted to move here for free health care, but I'm not buying that one. Hopefully they will appeal the government's decision and there will be a better outcome.