ust a week to go now before Barack Obama finally gets his feet under the Oval Office desk. Priority #1: Getting the much-discussed economic stimulus package pushed through Congress and approved.

Goosing infrastructure companies isn’t anything new. It’s been going on since 2003, when the U.S.’ “shock and awe” offensive overwhelmed Iraqi forces and resulted in negligible casualties. It was too easy. The casualties came later.

Economic confidence in both the Eurozone and greater European Union (EU) hit a record low in December, adding to an already long list of challenges that face that region. And even though policymakers have an economic stimulus package in place, confusion over future fiscal policy lingers.

President-Elect Barack Obama headed to Capitol Hill yesterday (Monday) to meet with House and Senate leaders to push for quick action on his broad economic stimulus package that could cost as much as $775 billion. 

President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team is reportedly putting the finishing touches on an economic recovery plan that could run from $675 billion to $1 trillion, though many experts believe the program will most like range between $700 billion and $800 billion.

The dollar bounces!  ISM was simply awful!  Oil rallies…  Jobs Jamboree this Friday… And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

President-elect Barack Obama yesterday (Monday) formally unveiled his economic team, including the nomination of New York Federal Reserve Bank President Timothy F. Geithner as the new administration’s U.S. Treasury secretary. The team’s first challenge will be assembling an economic stimulus package that could be even larger than the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) the Bush Administration has deployed.

The half-trillion-dollar stimulus package that China unveiled on Sunday underscores that country’s growing importance to the global economy and shows Beijing’s willingness to assume a leadership role in the battle to blunt a widening worldwide financial crisis, a top expert on China said yesterday (Monday).

DHL Withdraws From U.S.; China ‘Stimulates’ Railway and Steel Industries; YouTube to Show Full-Length Flicks; McDonald’s October Sales Solid; DB Analysts Says GM Stock Worthless; Fannie Mae to Tap Fed Fund; Starbucks Profit Down 97%; U.S. Cotton Production Declines by a Third

China unveiled yesterday (Sunday) what it described as a “massive” economic stimulus package – a planned capital infusion of $586 billion that it plans to use to reverse its slowing growth, to loosen credit and to offset slowing global growth by stoking domestic demand.