September 11 has left the travel industry in an extended recession (depression?). Major airlines are going bankrupt, hotels are experiencing record low occupancy, and the impending war is likely to do a few travel related companies in for good.

Contrast that with "about two years ago". The sky was the limit. Economic expansion was neverending, the DOW was headed for 20,000, and we were all going to be billionaires from ourownwebsite.com.

Simple economics. The bubble burst.