For the first time in modern history, the US economy finds itself back with the masses, flying coach instead of first class. These shocking facts say it all:

• From 2005 to 2010 alone, worldwide wealth will soar from $118 trillion to more than $200 trillion — with the newly capitalist markets of Asia and Europe accounting for the biggest share.
• Over the next 25 years, America’s share of the worldwide economic pie will slip from 28% to 24%…

While 2008 has not been the banner year for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) that 2007 was, several blue-chip operations including Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Time Warner Inc. (TWX) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) have picked up where private-equity firms left off last fall.

Wall Street firms may have to eliminate as much as 35% of employees, reports Bloomberg.

The culprit? The end of the boom in leveraged lending and the dwindling pace of mergers and acquisitions.

Wall Street has already axed more than 34,000 jobs since the credit crisis kicked off last July, the most jobs lost on the Street since the dot-com bubble popped in 2001.

The optimistic mood on Wall Street is finding support in a pick-up in M&A activity.

Swiss drug maker Novartis is taking Nestle’s 77% slice US eye-care company Alcon for $39 billion. Yahoo!, meanwhile, is sending smoke signals to Microsoft that it wouldn’t be against a bid if the price is right.

According to CityWire in Britain, the FTSE 100 broke through the 6,000 level “on a flurry of major corporate merger and acquisition reports from across the Atlantic.”