Keith Watanabe * NET 2.0

I haven't looked at the stock market for a while, but I checked out Yahoo Finance the other day.  Wow.  The last few weeks have been pretty nasty.  Of course, the other day there was a slight rise, but seeing the massive sell offs has just been unbelievable.  Probably, the two most disturbing sights for myself were Citigroup and GM.  Now, quite honestly, these aren't companies I particularly care for (and that's putting it mildly).  But to see two of the most powerful companies in America sink to extremely low levels is quite scary.

Google is another one that got shot down big time and unmercifully by Wall Street the other day.  The recent disappointing profit drop naturally caused former investors high on the tech giant to flee in panic with a $52 drop in price.  Obviously, the stock has been overrated for some time, but the lack of confidence in the company demonstrates that across the board, the US stock market is experiencing one of the worst seasons.

Tech isn't being as hard hit last time, which is good news for myself.  However, the overall outlook just isn't pretty.  I have a feeling that several industries might completely collapse in the wake of this.  The least stable at the moment are airlines and auto.  On the other hand, it's obvious that we need transportation, so it's natural to assume that some replacements will be on they're way.  Toyota and Honda will probably make the most headway in this area.  It would be quite the coup to see Toyota or Honda buying out one of the distressed auto manufacturers to gain greater ground in the US.  I mean, already we're seeing more plants being built for Toyota in the US, especially for the Prius as the demand for that car seems endless.

However, what also seems to be emerging rapidly is the electronic car industry.  Tesla Motors is releasing their vehicle soon and has a fair number of orders.  Of course, they are facing some lawsuits and other troubles as well as cater mostly to yuppies.   However, they've also got a new sedan lined up for late 2010 production.  The future looks bright for them.  Aptera is another one I frequently blog about to keep your eye on.

Not sure what will happen for the airline industry.  9/11 was certainly the beginning of the end for the airline industry as we knew it.  Some are blaming gas prices, but I think that the protocols implemented after 9/11 also gave rise to the industry experiencing an irrecoverable collapse.  It's been said that the industry is heavily competitive and a money losing one at best.  Without something like a Star Trek teleportation device though, we're still heavily dependent upon the airlines industry.  One possible outcome from this is that the industry will simply become one for luxury and business executives.  The prices for flights just aren't worth it as it relates to oil.  For that part, I place most of the fault on the manufacturers for being lazy and not considering ways to upgrade the design of planes.  However, it's a distinct possibility that commercial space flight might be the next real phase from this, using suborbital technology.  Now, I think that it'll be tough and that at the same time that new industry would simultaneously need to consider fuel alternatives to oil.  If that happens, it'll be the way to go.

Of course, we have to mention solar and other Green shops.  The oil crisis is leading people to move extremely fast in this industry.  Unfortunately, it's hard to say if the cost in the near term will resolve some of the major problems.  It might cut some areas down like electricity for the home, business cost and maybe car cost if people move quickly onto electric cars.  But I don't know if it'll affect other areas of cost like food.

Then you have finance.  I personally think finance as we know it should disappear.  It definitely will not be owned by Americans as before.  Maybe a few large banks will still exist, but many seem to be in desperate need of a bailout.  Citi's $2.5 billion loss is just an exorbitant number....and yet it's said they still beat the Street.  That's just mind boggling.  Maybe it's time for Wall Street to collapse and be rebuild into a new institution.  I personally think that the finance sector is going to move towards a completely electronic version.  You already have things like PayPal and ETrade.  But I'm thinking AdWords and other forms of information will increase in value since the stock market has become unstrustworthy for investment.

Housing....one vision I had was people moving inward.  The cost of land and housing towards the center are far cheaper than in places like California.  But it's a distinct possibility that people might discover states like Nebraska, Kansas or Iowa and colonize those parts. I've read stories about how some poorer cities are being turned around.  People would buy up real estate, put a fancy coffee shop and increase the value.  As a result, people within the area no longer can afford it, thus driving out the poorer folk.  There's actually a few South Park episodes like that.  But it's an interesting idea of how housing might turn out.