Is it still Bush's fault?

Just checking. Now that the Dow has plummeted 25% since Obama took office, pundits are having a harder time ignoring the Obama Effect. As others have pointed out, stock trades are a leading indicator; they represent where investors believe prices will be next week, next month, and next year. So, all in all, not a ringing endorsement of cranking up the Dollar printing presses and putting Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid in charge of shoveling the cash out the door.

The Treasury Department remains dysfunctional, headed as it is by a man who's apparently clueless about the role of the department. Too, the fact that he can't seem to find deputy secretaries (Except for a Bush administration holdover or two) can't be helping the department's efficiency. It seems that several candidates have recently withdrawn for tax or other "personal" reasons. "Personal reasons," in this context, translates as "I don't want to jump from a lifeboat on to the Titanic's deck, thank you very much."

Mark-to-market rules remain in effect, stifling banks' growth and lending opportunities and increasing the taxpayer's exposure to more failures. The Left's goofy and disastrous "carbon tax" ideas appear to be headed for legislative fruition this year, resulting in a half-trillion dollar tax on the economy just when it could be heading out of the recession. And the usual suspects in Congress want to begin "investigations" into the conduct of former Bush administration officials. Rome is burning, friends, and I hear the sounds of a fiddle emanating from Pennsylvania Avenue in D.C.