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No flights of fancy for us. Nope, we're descending to the ground -- just like airline stocks this week.

Doesn't it seem like a major airline goes bankrupt every few years or so? US Airways, an air carrier troubled for years, finally caved into Chapter 11 this week. AMR added to the industry's litany of lament when American Airlines announced 7,000 job cuts and fewer flights. And journalists flew to the news like summer tourists to a fare sale.

The problem is that airlines haven't adjusted to the reality of bargain businesses, believes Los Angeles Times business columnist James Flanigan. "They're trying to operate as full-service department stores in a Wal-Mart and Costco world," he writes. "Thus, they are unprofitable because their costs are too high and not suited to a world where consumers increasingly expect low fares, just like shoppers increasingly expect discount prices."

Those discount prices certainly haven't helped, says The Philadelphia Inquirer's Andrew Cassel. "What drove US Airways, Philadelphia's dominant carrier and one of the seven biggest airlines in the nation, to declare bankruptcy and throw itself on the mercy of a court?" he asks rhetorically. "Cheap tickets is certainly part of the answer - along with expensive labor contracts, airplane lease agreements, and other deals made during rosier days."

Bankruptcy certainly has no solace for investors. "Stockholders are at the very bottom of the priority barrel," bankruptcy expert Nancy Alquist told The Baltimore Sun's Eileen Ambrose.

There is a chance that US Airways has a chance to survive, notes The New York Times. But the problems of US Airways and American could still ripple from carriers to manufacturers.

The issue has particular resonance in the Pacific Northwest, because American has 67 jets on order from Boeing, which remains one of Seattle's largest employers despite cuts in recent years. If American cancels its orders, more Seattle jobs could be lost. And the employment market has gone from tight to downright rude, reports The Seattle Times.

"The economic upheaval of the past year has shifted employers back into the job-market driver's seat after years of having to tantalize applicants with incentives and bonuses," the newspaper says. "Job candidates say many companies have grown smug, treating them like nothings and paying little mind to the insecurities that dog the depths of the unemployed."

Other tidbits around the Web:

» Active mismanagement: the case for index funds
TheStreet.com co-founder and signature personality is a hyperactive ex-manager of a hedge fund, but investors are generally better off with good old index funds, Beverly Goodman says in her column for the Web site. "It sure would be great if we could rely on active management to provide a little good news in this market," Goodman writes. "Unfortunately, the value-added that active managers bring -- even in this "stock-picker's" market -- is small to none." John Bogle would be proud.

» Behind the curtain at Standard & Poor's
Speaking of indexing, MSN Moneycentral's John Markman looks at how the people behind the most widely-tracked index determine who's in and who's out. "Every change in the S&P 500 affects a trillion dollars in investments, but those who decide which stocks stay and which stocks go routinely ignore guidelines if they feel like it," Markman reports.

» Marketing to the old
The Economist finds that companies are ignoring the fact that the largest generation, Baby Boomers, is getting older. "Some have started, with uneven success, to market and advertise to an older population and to design products and services that meet its special needs. Few, though, see the elderly as an exciting group to sell to."