Where to begin this early morning..
It's been a hard start for Barack.. with some of the people picked for key posts found wanting..
But it would appear that the Senate will pass his economic recovery plan..slightly modified.. over the next few days. That will pump $Am780 billion into the economy and likely will bring down the frightening job losses reported not only this week, but for the past several months.
A rebuilding of the American infrastructure..roads..bridges..train tracks should be shiny and new within a few years, with the idea of a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage resussitated and the public crying for new versions of Leave It To Beaver and the Andy Griffith's Show..
Yup.
Now, this does not take into account the wheels already in motion around the world..
But if it gets even a running start, it certainly going to be a boon for Canadian and Japanese steel industry..
Some of that money is going to trickle into other economies, at least for a while..
But just where this 780 billion is going to come from is, as yet, confusing..to say the least..
A new 'Victory Bond' appeal, perhaps..?
Something has to be pulled from a hat, and quickly. Unemployment now over 7%.. jobs disappearing at unprecidented rates..
This new President had better get a settled Cabinet in place, before the baby completely disappears down the plughole..

Some disturbing thoughts about the Chinese economy..
While the official stance is 'we're all right, Jack'.. it would seem some of these 'official' figures disguise a drastic slowdown in the world's 3d largest economy..
Again.. the downstream will affect manufacturers globally.. and a diminishing Chinese market will do no good for either the British or the American recovery..
It's the way the Chinese define 'growth'.. Beijing uses a method that compares growth in one quarter with a full year earlier and says its economy expanded by a healthy 6.8 percent in the final quarter of 2008.
But the pundits say that compared to the previous three months.. the system used by most other major countries.. China's growth fell to as low as 1 percent or possibly zero.
Again.. not good.

Now.. a glance at xenophobia as.. contrary to some forecasts.. migrant workers continue to flood in..everywhere..
Now we're not talking about the US/Mexican borders here.. but workers who, following EU agreements.. are working quite legally throughout Europe..
Britain had three days of strikes in the energy sector because of the numbers of British jobs being done by other folks from around the EU..
More direct in, say Rome, where an Indian worker was beaten to death then set alight.. or in Athens, where a Bulgarian migrant worker was doused with sulfuric acid..
That's what jobs are starting to mean.. that while the EU was dandy while we were in economic stability.. we're nearing the point of 'Italy for Italians' and 'Greece for Greeks'..
The system is starting to teeter a tad, and when the Euro finally drops like a stone.. and it will.. 'free market' will fly away..
Interesting times.