In a report released by the World Economic Forum (WEF), the threat of a US recession placed higher than terrorism as the biggest threat to the world for 2008. "Fears of a U.S. recession coupled with a sudden spike in oil prices replaced terrorism, pandemic disease outbreaks and short-term disasters resulting from climate change as the issues global business leaders are most worried about, said the "Global Risks 2008" report." Well at least they got it right vis-a-vis climate change, or lack thereof.

There is no question that US economic growth is slowing led by the decline in housing, and the impact that slowing growth will have on the global economy as well as thestock market is an important issue. It also will play a big role in the upcoming Presidential elections. But the most important issue?

The report added, " The third major risk - dwindling food supplies - has become an issue not just for developing nations but also for rich countries," the report said, citing steep price increases for staple foods over the past year.

According to the Financial Times, "Companies doing business in "terrorist-sponsoring states" could once again have their names under scrutiny under a controversial plan being revived by the Securities and Exchange Commission."

In June, the SEC sparked controversy by posting the names of companies that did business with Iran, Sudan, Syria, North Korea, and Cuba. The agency quickly removed the list amid complaints from companies, who complained that the SEC didn't research the materiality of the connections.

Now the SEC is considering putting the list back up, and rightfully so. This is all about disclosure and transparency: if investors don't feel that the connections are material, they can ignore the list. But there are people who want to know whether the companies they're investing in have ties to terrorist states, and the SEC has a role in making information available to investors who request it.

More information for investors is always a good thing and if companies are embarrassed about showing up on the list, maybe they should reconsider their ties to these countries.

Taking a minute to look back and remember the horrible events of 9/11, it is hard to believe that it was only six years ago. The memories and emotions from that day are so easy to go back to it almost feels as though it was just yesterday, but indeed it was six years ago, and quite an eventful six years to be sure.

I can remember being a kid and hearing my parents and their friends talking about the day that JFK was shot, and saying how everyone in the country remembered exactly what they were doing on that day. I couldn't really understand what they were talking about. I began to understand that on 9/11. I think it is safe to assume that everyone in America (and perhaps most of the world) can remember exactly where they were and what they were doing on that morning.

For me, I was working as a stock trader at Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, VA. I remember getting to work that morning, and almost instantly realizing that something was wrong. At this time, there was only one television in the office, which was always left on CNBC. Typically there would be one or two analysts crowded into my boss's office watching the news, but on this morning, EVERYONE was crowded around this one television, so I knew that something was up.

Not too long ago, terrorism ranked as the top threat to the state of the American economy. This is no longer the case, as bad credit has now become the leading cause of concern.

According to a new report from National Association of Business Economics, 32% of its members that it polled are now placing the country's rising debt concerns as the biggest threat to the health of the economy.

The last time the group ran this same poll was back in March, at which terrorism topped the list of worries. The current poll shows that the threat of terrorism is considered a top worry by only 20% of the people in the survey.

The credit concerns began earlier this year when cracks in the subprime mortgage business started to become exposed. At first, it was hoped that the subprime problems would be minimal, or at best contained, but these hopes have vanished over the past few weeks as the ripple effect has been spreading across the entire market.

The past month has witnessed a five percent drop in the stock market, and the dollar falling to an all time low against its main benchmark, the euro.

The good news, is that the mortgage meltdown is still being considered a short term threat. Prices have been falling, no doubt about that, but looking 4 or 5 years down the road most experts are expecting to see homes gaining in value as opposed to further deterioration in value. One can only hope that they are right.

Things couldn't be better for our enemies. With oil prices at record levels and credit risk premiums widening, the heroes of American business, private equity firms, are losing out to the sponsors of the 9/11 attacks.

Reuters reports that Gulf Arab firms are absolutely delighted by the latest turn of events in world markets. With oil at record levels, more and more money is flowing into their coffers. And since American private equity firms have lost access to cheap money -- with investors having added more than 50% in July to the premium sellers of higher-risk bonds must pay over top-rated government debt -- the Gulf Arabs control the world's cheapest capital.

What will they do with their newfound financial firepower? Close at least $14 billion of private equity deals. For example, Taqa (Abu Dhabi National Energy Co.) wants to complete $4 billion worth of acquisitions in the next year. Dubai International plans as much as $10 billion in investments this year.

This is truly the promise of globalization realized. A handful of U.S. executives make a few hundred million more selling out to "folks" who are sworn to destroy the U.S.

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Thanks to a downturn in sales, sportswear maker Liz Claiborne Inc (NYSE: LIZ) will seek to divest itself of 16 of its 36 apparel brands, equal to about $800 million of its $5 nillion in annual revenue, reported the Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
• The Financial Times (subscription required) reported that Dell Inc (NASDAQ: DELL) has listened to customer concerns and has moved to eliminate "trialware" from a range of small business laptops and desktops computers.

OTHER PAPERS:

• British mining company Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RTP) is believed to be preparing a $34 billion, or $90 per share, takeover bid for Canadian aluminum company Alcan Inc (NYSE: AL), reported the U.K. Times.
• According to the Economic Times, FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) has failed in its attempt to buy out Indian logistics company SafeExpress.
• The Chicago Tribune reported that the U.S. faces an "increased risk" of a terror attack this summer, according to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

After reading the latest story on an advertising campaign by WakeUp Wal-Mart, I was left with a little "shock and awe" about the message the activist group has put out against the world's largest retailer. In what I would consider a very strong yet indirect connection, the new advertising campaign loosely attempts to connect Wal-Mart with terrorism as it mentions the cookie crumb trail from Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) to China to Afghanistan. Okay, that inference warranted a little more reading from yours truly.

The connection that is made links the dots between Wal-Mart's business relationship with China (which is mind-boggingly huge) and how China also supports terrorists in Afghanistan by shipping weapons there. The television ad then ends with "So, before you think about shopping at Wal-Mart think about that." What is doesn't mention is that the U.S. economy turns daily on its business relationship with China. In fact, I hate to think what would happen to consumer spending (about two-thirds of the U.S. economy) if we serviced all consumer need from U.S. resources instead of Chinese resources, overnight. Immediate collapse, my friends.

Now, that is not to say that the U.S. consumer's dependence on Chinese goods could not go away over time, but that's another post. So many companies have so many links to Chinese-made goods that Wal-Mart and just about every other Fortune 500 company that makes a product would be guilty of "terrorism links" in the context of this advertising campaign. If you read my weekly Wal-Mart column, you'll know that I give Wal-Mart a fair shot always -- good and bad. But this shot, while having some semblance of legitimacy (except where the facts are to support the accusation), should not be directed solely at Wal-Mart, but at any company that makes products in China with Chinese labor. Like that new iPhone? I'll bet it was made in China. Is Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) getting beat up here? Doubtful.

We have been expecting to see this for a few days now, and today oil was finally able to close the session above the psychological $70 mark at $70.55, gaining $0.98 on the session. Earlier in the day prices were able to trade as high as $71.06 before settling down a bit to head into the weekend.

Today's close above $70 marks the first time in almost a year that prices have been at this level, with the last time oil was above $70 being back in August '06. The primary reasons behind the move today were more of the same that we have seen lately... concerns over gasoline surprises and political tensions around the globe.

American refineries have been the center of attention over the past couple of months with concerns over how well refineries are going to be able to keep up with the growing demand during the peak summer driving months. This week those concerns were once again brought to the surface after the weekly inventory numbers out of the Energy Department showed n unexpected decline in gasoline supplies. Analysts had been expecting to see a rise of 1.1 million barrels when in fact the numbers showed that gasoline stocks fell by 700,000 barrels.

After 9/11, pundits quickly adopted the mantra "this changes everything." At the time, the statement rang false to me. And five years later, it's clear that trends underway before the attacks -- such as a shift from intellectual to land-based sources of growth, tax and interest rate cuts, and global intergration -- continued -- and in some cases were accelerated -- by policy decisions that followed 9/11. At least one trend resulting from these decisions -- the rise in housing prices -- is likely to reverse in the next five years -- with important implications for investors.

A few hours after the attacks, I was on the phone to Amey Stone, then of BusinessWeek Online, discussing their possible effects on the economy and markets. I felt a mixture of sorrow, fear and defiance as we discussed these relatively trivial topics on that historic day. On September 12, Waiting for the Wall Street Crunch appeared -- suggesting that the attacks would accelerate trends already underway -- such as tumbling stock prices and the Fed's January 2001 decision to lower interest rates to cushion the economic fallout from 2000's tech stock meltdown. The article also speculated about another attack and what that might mean for the economy and stocks.

Specifically, 9/11 followed four economic trends which were underway at the time of the attacks:

Stocks for most U.S. and European Airlines fell and then rallied to near their original values earlier today, on arrests of 21 individuals plotting terrorist attacks on trans-Atlantic flights. The sell-off is simple enough to explain, investors being concerned that imposition of heightened security-levels and traveler reluctance to fly would put additional pressure on the ever-ailing industry.

The rebound is explainable as well, as previous terrorist plots have somehow failed to bring the West to its knees. I'm flying the weekend before Labor Day, and wouldn't cancel for the world, though I'll probably (*sigh*) add yet another half-hour to my departure time for SeaTac airport.

Michael Canfield is a private investor, a business and media writer, living in Seattle. He doesn't own stock in the companies discussed in this post.