Wednesday linkage

Leading indicator?: Oil prices may have fallen by half, but that hasn't stopped an 'alarmingly fast paced and and widespread' drop in global airline traffic.

Foreign investment in Thailand plummets as the political crisis continues.

Stocking stuffers: it seems Usama bin Laden and Joe the Plumber are both working on books.

Business Week's Eye on Asia blog says Asia's financial crisis has only just started.

The usually sensible Thomas Barnett says 'only America can really play Leviathan. The rest of the world simply loses it during times of tumult.' Spare me.

 It's the oldest and soundest financial truism around: in the long term, stocks always go up. Ummm...