A Blip in a Balloon Fanned My Fiscal Fears

This Times Online article makes an interesting analogy between hot air ballooning and the financial situation. It fits more than he knows it. The best way to keep a balloon in good condition is by keeping it in level flight - not with rapid climbs and plummeting descents. It seems to me that people who own their own balloons understand this - those that fly them don't always (i.e., the pilot is not always the owner and this sometimes reflects the attitude to the craft in my experience). The steadiest flier succeeds in the long term by not racing skyward, as it costs just as much energy to come down. Something that those running businesses that are not necessarily their own have seemed not to understand.