The Air Transport Association announced that passenger revenue plunged 21% in July relative to the same month last year. This was the ninth month in a row that the industry has had to contend with what has been a brutal market for a perpetually beleaguered business.

The number of passengers hopping on flights fell 4% from July 2008 to July 2009, and the revenue situation wasn't helped by a decline of 18% in the average price a passenger paid to fly one mile.

The pirates of Somalia, in making world trade a bit more of a high risk venture, have finally placed their own unsavory hobby in jeopardy. Bloomberg reports that NATO is currently reassessing its operations in the insecure waters off the coast of Somalia. "This hijacking could really change the picture and we could see much more proactive rules of engagement,'' said Hans Tino Hansen, managing director of Risk Intelligence, a maritime security consultant based in Vedbaek, Denmark.

Already, there are at least 15 warships in the region, forming a multinational coalition armed with the intent of calming those pirate churned waters. In the last ten days, India, Russia, Britain and Germany have each engaged pirates in battle. The report from Bloomberg indicates that more warships are on the way to the Gulf of Aden. When considering what is hoped to be a decisive end to cargo ship hijackings by maritime pirates in the region, I say we must use every available means to make those waters safe for world commerce. I don't know about you, but I have always considered the taking of a sea-going vessel to be an overt act of war.

The whole world is eagerly watching to see how this saga shall finally play out. One thing is for sure, the clock is ticking down towards the demise of pirate profitability off the shores of Somalia. At this time, we might take pause to remember the indomitable words of Popeye the Sailor Man, who often uttered this statement when forced to take drastic and decisive action against obviously abusive behavior:

"That's all I can stands, and I can't stands no more."

Okay, so my title is a bit misleading. No, I don't mean a bigger trade deficit is a good thing. What I'm getting at here is that bigger thinking could help lead us down a better road. Beginning with the introduction of transistors in 1947 and then progressing from transistors to integrated circuits and on through to today's computer chips, the trend in electronics manufacturing has been to make things smaller and smaller. While this shrinking of electronics has been an overall good thing, the concept has crept into nearly every class of consumer merchandise. This has made the manufacturing, shipping and importation of foreign manufactured items that much more lucrative.

In the 1970's we were faced with much screaming and yelling about how crude oil was going to run out in 20 years. There was a world wide mad dash to do something to prevent that from happening. The mantra for auto makers became "if it's not a compact car it'll be a subcompact car." People didn't like those cars much but they were sold to us as fun and practical. At .95 cents a gallon for gas, people were eager to use less oil in order to help save the world. Chromium steel was replaced with ugly black and gray plastic. Roofs were lowered to eliminate glass. Tires had their sidewall area reduced and tire widths began to narrow. Japan began to salivate as the proposition of exporting cars to America became lighter, leaner and cheaper. .

(photo courtesy of: www.njscuba.net/ )