Some people say that a President doesn't have much influence over the economy. Morgan Stanley's chief economist, Stephen Roach, may not be one of those people. Or maybe he is. In which case he's have to believe that even coming out of the relatively prosperous '90s under Clinton with a budget surplus, there was already no avoiding the "economic armageddon" he sees as well-nigh inevitable now.

Then again, most Presidents wouldn't think of trying to reduce the budget deficit by pretending that the Treasury bonds in the Social Security Trust Fund don't count as debt. Both via Atrios.

Posting will probably be lighter for the rest of the week...