Capturing some numbers

Yesterday, the Senate passed the crap sandwich bill, along a largely party-line vote. The only Republicans to sign on to the bill were Senators Specter, Collins and Snowe, who, for reasons of their own, decided to defect. For Senator Snowe, it was probably because The One made her feel needed. Whatever. It's done and even though those three have my undying contempt, they gave the President his stimulus.

So, it might be prudent to capture a few numbers, just as benchmarks for the future. This is a great experiment, to see if we can spend ourselves into prosperity. We turn then to the following benchmarks.

From the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Consumer Price index listed at 210.228 relative to December 2007. Relative to 1967, the CPI is at 629.751.

The CPI is a reflection of inflation, which for December 2008 (2009 numbers are not yet released), stands at 3.85%.

We turn then to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the most quoted harbinger of our nation's financial health. It closed Friday at 7850,41. That's a fairly low bar, certainly the lowest DOW since 2003. Still, we'll see how the new Obama economy reacts to it.

Whatever happens, for better or worse, it's an Obama economy. The Democrats gave him everything he asked for. Now, he's gotta perform.