If anything points to Madison's ability to withstand a recession, it's the uptick in local airline traffic.

As colleague Jane Burns reported in the WSJ on Sunday, passenger traffic at the Dane County Regional Airport is up 5 percent from last year. That's a marked turnaround from the last two years, where the passenger count has been dropping despite some expensive upgrades and acres of new parking spaces.

But now you wonder what effect Southwest Airlines entering the Wisconsin market might have on Madison's Frank Lloyd Wright-themed airport.

The Dallas-based budget carrier began new service from Milwaukee on Nov. 1, with a dozen daily nonstop flights to six destinations: Baltimore/Washington; Kansas City, Las Vegas, Orlando, Phoenix and Tampa Bay. Southwest also hasn't hidden its intentions to grab customers from the Madison area and was working the PR angle hard here last week.

So-called "leakage" to airports in Chicago, Milwaukee and even Rockford has long been a concern for local airport officials. Southwest coming into the market will only add to the problem.

The long-discussed "high-speed" rail connection between Madison and Milwaukee might also figure into the equation - if Wisconsin lands a piece of federal rail funding as many hope.

"Getting the rail connection between Milwaukee and Madison would be great," says Southwest spokeswoman Brianna Brilowski, emphasizing that business travelers are a main customer target.

Plans call for locating a new Amtrak station at the Dane County airport with likely connections to Mitchell Field - although a Madison group is still pushing for a First Street station location.

But train backers here will have to wait until 2010 before any word comes from Washington over what states might land federal stimulus funding for expensive track and equipment upgrades. Earlier, it was expected a decision would come this fall.

Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Szabo said last month there were 45 applications from 24 states totaling about $50 billion for high-speed rail corridor programs. There were also 214 applications from 34 states totaling $7 billion for corridor planning and smaller projects.

Only $8 billion in stimulus funding was earmarked for high speed rail, however, meaning the feds will have a lot of tough choices to make.

So are the delays a bad thing for Wisconsin?

Kevin Brubaker, deputy director of the Environmental Law & Policy Center in Chicago, admits the process has been overwhelmed with lots of relatively small, shovel-ready projects competing for the funding. But he thinks the feds are looking for comprehensive plans like the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative.

"If anything, I think this is good news for the Midwest," says Brubaker.

Looks like another tough ride on Wall Street for ma and pa investors.

After posting eight straight months of gains - with the Dow Jones industrial average re-topping the 10,000 mark - stocks have been on a slide since, finishing October in the red and dropping the Dow back below 9,800.

The Dow is up 15 percent from its bottom of 6.400 hit back in March 2009.

Still, as measured by the S&P 500., stocks have been a loser for investors. The index is down nearly 2 percent over the past 10 years.

That means $100,000 invested in 1999 in an SP500 index fund is worth $68,000 today, after adjusting for inflation. Check it out yourself at IFA.com.

It's bad news for those basing their retirement on the old adage that "stocks return 10 percent" over the long haul.

Stocks as measured by the S&P 500 did average double-digit, non-inflation, adjusted returns from January 1958 through December 2007, according to Index Fund Advisors; stocks posted average annual gains of 11.1 percent during that nearly 50-year period.

But based on what's going on these days -- money still spent on foreign wars, a falling dollar, a savaged auto industry -- you wonder about socking money away in a 529 college savings program or loading up the 401(k) stock fund.

National market guru Martin D. Weiss offered up this story about the past 15 years and how said small-time investors need to be wary of "false profits and fake promises."

Weiss says the shaky gains hyped up by Wall Street over the past months are coupled with stories of unsustainable economic recoveries trumpeted by Washington.

"No matter when or where you may be ... don't be fooled by illusions of wealth and prosperity," Weiss warns.

Consider the past two investment bubbles that ended badly for Main Street investors.

First, we got taken up with "illusions of wealth" by the Great Tech Bubble of 1998-99. Then, millions were fooled a second time by "illusions of prosperity" in the Great Housing Bubble of 2005-06.

"Despite these blatant lessons of history, they are being fooled again by the Great Recovery Hoax of 2009-2010," warns Weiss, touting index-like "ETF" securities designed to go up in a down market.

My question is: Whatever happened to the "Golden Passbook" savings accounts that paid depositors a fixed 5 percent?

Ah, for the days of one-TV households, daytime World Series games and company pensions.

Add or View Comment

Login to post your comment. If you don't have an account, you may register for one.