Rob

I would have been here earlier, but my wife gave birth to our first child late Wednesday night, and I've been just about as drained as I can be...or as a buddy of mine said, "Dude, the first few weeks are like Ranger School without the fun of jumping out of planes or carrying weapons."

Back to the topic - I'd offer that global economics is inhernetly more unstable, simply because of the complexities involved. There are limits built in to economic systems that can reduce the possibilities of downturns or loss, but none the less, the sheer complexity and size of the global economy means that a small problem can ripple into a larger problem.

Think back to 9/11, and the problems the airline industry had. What happens if the Federal Government doesn't bail out the airline industry? How often can the Federal Government actually do this - I've seen it twice in the past two Presidencies - the airline and steel industries bailout under Bush, and the bailout of the Mexican economy under Clinton. At some point, there are going to be diminishing returns, and all of that money is coming out of our taxpayers pockets.