Funny how things have a way of coming back due to necessity. The financial meltdown that has been growing this year finally had a government bailout similar to the many government programs of the Great Depression. The Republicans, the party of less government and less regulation, finally had to admit that the deregulations that are their hallmark finally gave way to destruction due to incompetence, greed, and poor insight into the financial sector.

So just what happened? We can thank Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II for the financial fiasco. Deregulation led to sub primed lending. Wall Street acted more like Vegas, and a shortsighted mentality that less regulation is better for all. Well, history has a way of repeating itself. Yes, a balance is now needed between government intervention and free market capitalism. But we must not forget that the sins of the past such as unsafe worker conditions, no banking regulations, lack of Wall Street oversight and no worker protection led to government programs because pure capitalism simply does not work to offset disparities, monopolies, and outright worker exploitation. So now because of greed and lesser rules, our government has become a big market socialist.

Visa (V) has a great model and in the long run will be a great stock. Visa, once the economy rises and we have a sound financial sector, will continue to go up to eventually surpass MasterCard (MA).

But recent events show that Visa, like any other stock, is not bullet proof. Visa is susceptible to the financial sector. It is susceptible to the economy. It is susceptible to a BEAR market. It is susceptible to the rise in oil. Not because I say so. Because Wall Street says so. Despite the fact that Visa had stellar earnings, it did not rise to the expectations of many.

Since the hedge funds dropped commodities in early July, you have seen a dramatic sell-off in oil, coal, and fertilizers. This despite the fact that these commodities have excellent fundamentals going forward, stellar earnings, and continued demand.

The recent "rally" on Wall Street, with the illusion that with lower oil everything is right with the world, came to a reality check Tuesday when JPMorgan (JPM) reported a loss of 1.5 billion. What the market fails to accept is that the financial crisis is still in the middle innings and as long as the credit crunch, credit card defaults, mortgage crisis, and lower consumer spending continues, this crisis will not go away simply because oil is down in price.

While Visa (V) just released stellar performance numbers, the stock tanked to the surprise of many. The arguments have been many as to the positives of the Visa model. The arguments have included that Visa is recession proof, Visa is not affected by financial liability, Visa has strong international growth, and many others. While these arguments are true in their individual standings, they look at Visa from the micro perspective, as if Visa is bullet proof to the macro problems facing the economies today.

Yes, Visa is a great model. Yes, Visa in the long run should do very well. But the many that were boasting of great stock value in this failing economy failed to give value to the way the market and Wall Street operate.

While Wall Street has been concentrating recently on the demand side of oil leading to lower prices, the future conditions of oil prices have been and will be determined by supply side economics.

The fallacy is that a mild to moderate recession in the United States will lead to lower oil demand and thus a drop in oil prices. This is a short-term projection. Even with lower demand in the United States, the growing markets hungry for oil such as China and India will put constraints on supply in the future. Keep in mind that to a degree oil is inelastic. There is only so much lower demand that even a recession can bear. Companies still have to get their goods to their ports. People still have to go to work.