FROM THE DAILY RECKONING JAN 20, 2009

EXCERPT: Tomorrow, the man called Obama takes up the president's job. Poor man. He seems like a decent sort. A shame...something like that happening to him. But he hung around with the wrong crowd - lowbred types in high political circles - and look where it has gotten him. Tomorrow, he'll be called upon to stand before a hundred million viewers, put his hand on a Bible, and lie. To the question - will he swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States America - he will give the answer he has rehearsed. Yes, I can! Then, like almost every American president since John Quincy Adams, he will ignore it. But before we return to tomorrow, let's turn back to yesterday...or, Friday. So far this year, stocks are down nearly 7%. But at least the Dow bounced a little at the end of last week - up 68 points. Oil held at $42. And dollar was steady at $1.33 per euro. The excitement on Friday was in the gold market - the yellow stuff bounced $32. Why would gold go up...when the world economy is clearly going down? We don't know. But if we were Mr. Obama, we'd approach this new job like renting a car from a disreputable agency. We'd want to take a good look and take note of all the dents ands defects before driving off the lot. We wouldn't want to get charged for the previous drivers' mishaps! The founding charter of the U.S.A. made no allowance for going into the banking business...nor the auto business...nor any other kind of business. Neither did it allow invasions of foreign countries, without a declaration of war...or imagine a standing army that costs about as much as all the rest of the world's armies put together. In the beginning, the U.S. government was specifically limited in what it could do. Now, very little remains that it can't do. But in all matters - big or small...torturing people or taking their money - government leaders must pretend to be acting in the national interest. It's a low-down, dirty business that usually attracts people of the same sort. People like George W. Bush and Joseph Biden...people with no sense or no principles - or neither. People who don't know a lie when they hear it or...don't mind telling one. That's why we're sorry to see Obama in the trade; he seems like such a nice fellow. But politics...alas, someone's got to do it. As the old Latin expression puts it: The voters want to be deceived; then let them be deceived.