Editor Allan Leibowitz comments on the news of the week

It's hard to remain upbeat after the market devastation on the major stock exchanges in the past couple of days. Billions of dollars have been wiped off the world markets, mostly on fears of government debt defaults. This obviously creates some uncertainty at all levels of the economy and potentially dampens demand for forklifts which was slowly recovering. Planning folk at the forklift manufacturers have their work cut out because not only are they dealing with volatility, they are also flying blind since there's a delay before they hear about the possible impacts on their customers. Ironically, the financial troubles come as many major companies report positive trends, but that optimism may not be enough to overcome the stock crashes.