Hmmm...

And today, the government released more negative data, this time in the form of unemployment numbers. The national unemployment rate rose in March, up to 8.5%. The data showed that unemployment rose in 46 states - and in Michigan and Oregon, it pushed past 12%.

The high unemployment rate is pretty self-explanatory in Michigan, where the long, slow death of the U.S. automakers has clearly taken its toll. And in Oregon, employment relies heavily on the lumber industry, which has taken a major hit because of the decline in homebuilding...especially in California.

"We produce a substantial amount of wood products used for residential construction, so many of our lumber and wood products are shipped to California for the housing market," said David Cooke, economist for the Oregon Employment Department. "California's economy is so large - it's 10 times the size of Oregon - so anything that's happening in California has a direct impact on the state."

But not if Obama has anything to do with it. His stimulus package intends to save or create 3.5 million jobs through 2010.

Byron King says, "Here's what's going to happen with a lot of that stimulus money. The state and local governments and agencies will get the federal money. Then they'll put out bids and ask for proposals to build or repair roads, bridges, government buildings, etc. They'll get back lots of bids and proposals, and for surprisingly low prices.

"And in relatively short order, the work will start and the steel and concrete will begin to move. OK, that'll stimulate things. Welding rebar and pouring concrete will help the economy and put a lot of laid- off construction workers back on somebody's payroll.

"But will government spending rebuild and strengthen the private sector? It will take a lot of private investment and spending to build out the economy of the future. I just don't see that private investment happening on a large scale.

"It gets back to why I don't trust this stock market. I don't see some critical fundamentals, especially private sector investment."

One last word from Addison, on Obama's most senior economic advisor:

"For better or worse," said the octogenarian Paul Volcker yesterday, "we are at a point where the Federal Reserve Act is going to be reviewed."

"None of us has seen a decline in economic activity at the rate of speed seen late last year," he stated the former Fed Chair in a speech at Vanderbilt University - a noteworthy observation from the guy who was credited with slaying the rampant inflation of the late '70s.

"Volcker was one of the few members of the Nixon administration who argued that dismantling the Bretton Woods exchange rate system in 1971 - effectively removing gold as the guarantor of the dollar's value and replacing it with 'the full faith and credit' of the U.S. government - was a bad idea," said Addison.

"Now, it looks like the powers that be are openly discussing, not just the dollar's role as reserve currency of the world, but the role of the Fed as set forth by the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 itself.