Let’s have a little fun. You get to be the President.

Imagine it’s late fall 2009. Everything with the economy is working better than you had any reason to expect.

• Consumers are buying again but not going crazy.
• Geithner’s Plan worked beyond your wildest expectations.
• GDP has been positive in the third quarter and it looks like the fourth will be a blowout.
• Chrysler is prospering as a part of Fiat and GM is making great strides in Chapter 11.
• Congress is relaxing now that they don’t have to consider any more bailouts.
• The 2010 elections look like a lock.

BUT

• Europe is a basket case.
• The Eastern Bloc countries have collapsed into anarchy.
• The Austrian banking system is toast and it looks like the Swiss will lose at least one bank.
• Spain and Ireland have withdrawn from the EU.
• The U.K. is in a full fledged depression.
• The French have withdrawn behind a maze of protectionist measures.
• Germany is faced with the probability of a far left government.

AND

• Japan can’t pull itself out of the pit. Another lost decade looms.
• China is increasingly preoccupied with internal dissent.
• The Asian export economies are unable to grow due to China’s problems.

Europe and Asia are begging for more stimulus. The only hope of avoiding a European and Asian Depression is demand from the U.S.

So you call in your economic brain trust and reluctantly the Democratic Congressional leaders. Here is what they have to say:

• Treasury Secretary Volcker mumbles about inflation being the biggest enemy.
• Chairman Bernanke tells you that the lid will come off interest rates with anymore stimulus.
• Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi look at you like you just stepped off the ship from Mars. No way will you get any more money out of Congress, especially to bail out other countries.
• Your political wizards point to polls that tell you there is no way you can get away with more.
• The liberal press is pushing you to save the world and the conservative media says don’t you dare.

So you’re President Obama at this point in time. What course would you take.

• Save the world.
• The hell with them.
• ? Insert your answer.

Don’t take it lightly. Reality is taking strange forms these days.