Where is the spoiler warning for those of us in the midst of this epic novel. I'd say more but I stopped reading at John Galt is...
"Sometimes I think humanity's second-greatest need is a supervillain."
Isn't this like saying the hurrican was so great it created all those contruction jobs? I agree it would be nice if we could work together more, but lets do it to be productive, not just to maintain status quo.
This may depend on how long the cooperation lasts after the external conflict occurs.
As far as getting money into an account quickly goes, can you sell short at Intrade? If so, I'd short Hillary, and long Obama, but not confidnetly enought to actually do it.