Admit that the waters around you have grown...

Ouch. Miss Market cares not a whit that Barrack H. Obama is now the 44th president of the United States on January 20, 2009. She answers to a higher mother: Ms. DO RE MI. But because I know she is secretly smitten with me, I'm confident our embrace awaits.

And I can't help but believe that she is relieved that the little boy playing dress-up in a jet pilot's outfit spouting heckuva job Brownie, bring 'em on and I answer to a higher father has been dispatched to his room to play with the Legos that mean only something to him, not the world where fleshly men and women work, play and fight.

Echoing St. Paul, President Obama noted today that "the time has come to set aside childish things." Adults are in charge again.

Chief Justice Roberts, purposefully or not, mangled the oath of office, and the President-about-to-be gracefully smiled and quizzically looked at him, giving Roberts the benefit of the doubt. Good form, old sport.

But on to more meaningful prose.

"What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them"

I heard Bob Dylan singing, Come senators, congressmen, Please heed the call, Don't stand in the doorway, Don't block up the hall, For he that gets hurt, Will be he who has stalled.

Obama: "Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control -- and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous."

Well, here's hoping the prosperous will include you and me in the days, months and years to come.

However, to achieve this, Obama must be a stern steward to gain the confidence of the conservative doubters. In this regard, he should throw Treasury secretary-designate Tim Geithner overboard, a twit in a suit who cheated on his taxes, though I doubt at this stage Obama can do it since he knew it before. This appointment could wound him severely if the economy and market keep spiraling downward.

Miss Market is cruel and merciless, but she enchants us nevertheless. Updates on Kev's battered portfolio after its rebound tomorrow (fingers crossed; the rent depends on it!)