Dear Mr. President, Here's a Wish List

Welcome, Mr. President. The people of America have a lot riding on your success, and we wish you well. Sure, there will be debate about your specific plans to fix the economy, but we are united in hoping you succeed.

We recognize you face a huge, unprecedented challenge. Last year, global stock markets lost an estimated $30 trillion, not to mention the trillions more lost in housing values and commercial real estate. Or the multi-trillion dollar bubble of now-worthless derivatives on bank balance sheets. Add it all up, and it's probably $60 trillion down the drain. (And don't forget the $50 billion lost by Madoff investors.)

Even the release of the remaining $350 billion from TARP is a pittance against those huge global losses. And even with the Fed and the Treasury now buying mortgage securities, and investing in banks and auto companies, and guaranteeing debt of public companies, your stimulus plan will still swim against a huge tide of write-offs. (Photo gallery: Obama Takes Office)

We know from history that stimulus plans don't have a good track record of success. Even after the stimulus plans of the 1930s, we know that the unemployment numbers were twice as high at the end of that decade. In the 1990s, we watched Japan create several waves of massive stimulus plans, only to remain mired in deep recession for more than 10 years.

We know all this for a fact. And yet at this very moment, the entire world is hoping that you can turn that tide, return the American and global economies to prosperity, and make financial sense of our future. It's a bit past the season, but today you are viewed as the global Santa Claus, capable of being everywhere, doing everything and granting all sincere requests.

Will the Obama administration turn the economy around?
	Yes. Things will improve in 2009 Yes. But it's going to take a few years No. The downturn is too severe and getting worse No. There are too many factors that can't be controlled