While members of Congress debated the merits of President Obama’s $838 billion stimulus plan, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner unveiled a raft of new measures aimed at returning functionality to the besieged credit markets.

I have to admit when Byron King made his “silent spring” prediction last month — a severe curtailment in air travel as early as next spring because of fuel prices, including an estimate that 70% of U.S. airports are at risk of losing commercial passenger service — I was a bit skeptical.