Friday FY08 Week 49: Quote of the week: Every tree and plant in the meadow seemed to be dancing, those which average eyes would see as fixed and still. – Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmi

Here are four thoughts to trip over as we round yet another sharp corner on the path to economic recovery.

One way for the US economy to escape its doldrums will be for the country to expand its exports. Everyone’s great American hero, President Ronald Reagan, knew that.

Rumours continue to circulate that former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker will be Obama’s Treasury or Fed chief. Volcker’s hardline anti-inflation stance makes him an exciting prospect for Greenspan/Bernanke critics. But Andrew Carpenter says we should also remember the painful recessions that Volckers’ interest rate hikes induced…

As we near the end of the week when IDE editors offer you predictions – and actionable ideas – on the next four years, here are a handful of my thoughts on the world of 2012… assuming, that is, the Mayan thing with 2012 doesn’t come true… something about 12-21-12.

1) Back in 2008, the sky may have been dark, but those who reached for it are 2012’s biggest winners. They were the people who kept feeding their retirement plans and investment accounts… these were people who understand that fear, like euphoria, is a transient emotion.

Of course, the difference between fear and euphoria is that people in the midst of a euphoric event know that it’s likely their joy will eventually become…

For a guy with a Harvard MBA, President Bush simply doesn’t get how real banks work… but anyone who has waited three to five days for an out of state check to clear gets how the “float” works.

Quote of the Week 1: “He was born to be a senator. He never said anything important, and he always said it sonorously.” – Sinclair Lewis, Elmer Gantry

Quote of the Week 2: “Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up, is something I don’t pretend to understand.” – Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

“Some things leave a mark, some leave a welt and some leave a scar. You can safely put the US Department of Interior’s Mineral Management Service into the scar category,” says Andy Carpenter. “As in hee hee hee, ha ha ha… from now on, the words mineral, management and service strung together in series will always evoke a hearty laugh from me.”

Andy Carpenter says US foreign policy is isolating the country from the rest of the oil-producing world. President McCain/Palin will only make this worse. They want the US to return to the 1950s and the Red Scare. Obama, on the other hand, wants to make friends with the world…

You know, conservatives who fear the White House is lost. Non-conservatives who think the White House is lost… investors who think all is lost… homeowners who worry that all could be lost and haven’t got the message from their betters – college educated finance majors – who smugly assume that homeowners voluntarily dug their own deep holes and should now just allow the walls to collapse around them.