President Obama wasted no time in getting to work on the nation's economic woes.  On Wednesday, his first full day on the job, he announced a freeze on the pay of all White House staffers making more than $100,000.  On Friday, Obama met with 9 congressional leaders representing both political parties to discuss his economic stimulus package.  The White House hopes to spend 75% of the $550 billion from the proposal that is allocated to public works programs within the next 1 ½ years (source: AP). 
 
Typically an individual who anticipates the need to borrow substantial sums of money in the coming months would be reluctant to be critical of his/her banker.  That's why Treasury Secretary Nominee Tim Geithner's comments before the Senate Finance Committee last week accusing the Chinese of being a "currency manipulator" were surprising.  The US may need to borrow as much as $2.5 trillion in 2009 alone and will likely need the Chinese to continue to serve as a ready source of funds (source: AP).        
 
The Fed holds their initial meeting of 2009 this week.  Since they lowered short-term rates to near zero in mid-December, the financial markets will be interested in hearing what other options are now available, including the concept of an "aggregator" bank that would buy bad loans and mortgages from troubled US banks (source: Federal Reserve).

1.     OBAMA'S IDEA - The $825 billion economic stimulus package released by House Democrats on Thursday 1/15/09 included $550 billion of anticipated public spending (e.g., funds for education, health care, infrastructure) and $275 billion of tax cuts.  The $825 billion total is the estimated value of spending and tax cuts that would occur in 2009-10.  The $275 billion of tax cuts would be greater than the impact of tax cuts in the first 2 years of the tax bill signed into law by President Bush on 6/07/01 that produced $174 billion of tax cuts and a second tax bill signed into law by Bush on 5/28/03 that provided $231 billion of tax cuts (source: Wall Street Journal).    
 
2.     I GOT YOUR BACK - The Secret Service spent $44,000 a day to protect Barack Obama while he was running his presidential campaign, an expense equal to $16 million per year (source: USA Today).  
 
3.     GAMBLING - 1 out of every 11 homes in Las Vegas received a foreclosure filing (i.e., default notice, auction sale notice or bank repossession) in calendar year 2008 (source: RealtyTrac). 
 
4.     AUTO BUSINESS - Total car and light truck sales are projected to be 11.5 million in calendar year 2009, down from 16.1 million in 2007.  That equates to 12,600 fewer vehicle sales nationwide per day this year when compared to just 2 years earlier (source: FT).

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