JFRiley commented:

Tom,

certainly a little more pessimistic and depressing than we're used to. Hopefully a greenbay win Sunday will lift your spirits :)

This issue is the central one for me in this election: who has the better chance to continue globalizations trends? I asked this before but i'll repost. It seems that both candidtaes have traits that could help or hurt globlization.

McCain may try to bring us back to a cold war mentality, but he seems to also be about keeping the free trade going that is so critical to globalization.

Obama, if his primary speaches are to be believed, wants to help the american worker and stop jobs fron going overseas. I see trade barriers there. That could hurt. But its almost cetrtian he'll reach out and strengthen our alliances which are equally important.

Could you give us your take on where you think the candidates stand on those conflicting viewpoints?

Tom replied:

Essentially agree, and in general, I'm an optimistic guy no matter who wins the White House, because I'm more impressed with the macro-trends (economic) of globalization than I am with any native American tendency toward protectionism. In short, I trust American business, more than the government, to keep globalization on track.