Odyssey

Warren Buffett says the economy has fallen off a cliff, but in five years we should be back to normal, if not inflated. Robert J. Samuelson is worried Obama's vision is blurred and "still runs the risk that his overworked rhetoric loses its power and boomerangs on him." Paul Krugman is afraid the new administration's economic policies are "falling behind the curve, and there’s a real, growing danger that it will never catch up." E. J. Dionne points out that no president since FDR has inherited such an "unbholy mess," and that Obama must be bold: "If there is one thing he should fear, it is fear itself." Meanwhile, FDIC Chairwoman Sheila C. Bair wonders if we should have allowed some banks to get so big in the first place. What about insurance companies, like AIG, or HMOs or credit card companies or car companies or Big Macs and McMansions and SUVs?

Wall Street junkies predictably want to blame Obama for their overdose and withering withdrawal. In the end, we're all in this together now, unfortunately, and we better sober up and fly right this time or the whole world spins out of orbit, with Rush Limbaugh on board and all his other cracked heads. Stanley Kubrick did that space odyssey 40 years ago (or at least something like it), didn't he? During the 70s, there was a glimmer of green with organic food co-ops, home-grown vegetables (with some good ganja), fuel-efficient air-cooled Beetles and wood-burning stoves. Then the yuppies invaded. Well, now the hippies may be back, with some rejuvenated flower power.