Simon Constable, Dow Jones, seeks the rosiness in the death watch on General Motors the day after the car maker was acquired by Obamauto.  Meanwhile, the OECD converts to the College of Doom:

Batchelor & Constable: Will G20 Stop Protectionism?  In a word, No.  Much worse.  The G20 will break up in finger-pointing, chest-thumping confusion.  This is the G17 vs the G2 vs the G1, that is China, India, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Japan, Italy, Russia, Australia, South Korea, South Africa, European Union vs America and Britain vs. France.  The most significant voices so far are Germany and France, because for their own domestic reasons they will not go along with Gordon Brown.  We are looking at a recreation of the June 1933 failure of the London Economic Conference.  It fell apart over gold, currency manipulation and protectionism.   The G20 looks to fail over banking regulation and protectionism. 

Week Ahead: G20 Takes on Global Crisis 3/29/2009

WSJ's MarketBeat blogger David Gaffen tells Dow Jones Newswires' Simon Constable many are hoping for more than just talk when the G20 convenes in London to tackle the global financial crisis. Plus, the European Central Bank meets and payroll data is released.

Batchelor & Constable: California Sinking!  Simon Constable asks me about my recent visit to 

the heart of Silicon Valley at Palo Alto and to the heart of San Francisco's financial district off Market Street, where I saw alarming evidence of white collar unemployment, cliff-diving 

business models, empty shops and "Fore Lease" commercial space. The reports from California indicating 12% unemployment soon do not contain the warning that many of the losses are high-end, professional and specialist jobs. And as California sinks, so sinks the nation.

Batchelor & Constable: Is Geithner a Currency Trader's Nightmare?  Simon Constable and I are stumped at the confusing remarks by troubled Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner, who 

in the course of the same panel discussion in New York makes remarks that sell-off the dollar 1.1 percent, and the market with it, and then corrects his apparent misspeak and rallies the dollar and the markets back to par.  Tongue-tied, star-crossed, snake-bit, unlucky Tim Geithner.

Batchelor & Constable Simon Constable and I speak with puzzlement of the apparent fact that the all-powerful Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the UK does not enjoy respect in Europe or in his home country. The poor English pound is a victim. We also note that the young Daniel Hannan has gained worldwide celebrity from his brief, self-posted video challenging Gordon Brown's policies and performance.

"Day Ahead: Obama Meets with Senior Bankers "President Obama is expected to meet with several high profile bankers in Washington as he seeks to gain support for the latest plan to stabilize the financial sector. Plus, news that chip-maker Intel may issue as much as $1 billion of additional stock. Dow Jones Newswires' Simon Constable has the report."

(Colleague Simon Constable again finds order amid the chaos, though the POTUS meeting with senior bankers is not a fresh idea, and what does the White House have to say that is new? "We love you more than ever, and someday you will thank us for punishing you?")

South Park silences the brains of the most ponderous characters in the United States Treasury. September 15 and 16 2008 come to this. The Republic was as headless as a chicken. Is it better today? AIG is the answer.  All credit for this cartoon link to Calculated Risk, who gives all credit and HT to the great and wise and hilarious Nemo of the CR comments section.  I do not see TV anymore, shame on me.  Too busy staring at the "turn the corner" and "signs of progress" and "when recovery begins" crowd.

Simon Constable's new labor at the Dow Jones is to pick the worries of the day and find a reason to be cheerful amid the gloom of the worldwide economic cliff-diving. Like the First Mate to the Flying Dutchman, Simon trims the stormsails and rides out the blow.

Daniel Hannan, 37, rises to speak boldly and compellingly to the face of Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the whole of the wobbly Labor Government cabinet. This is thrilling, stunning, beautifully performed and devastating. It may well be the sling-shot of a David launched against the brow of a Goliath.   You cannot make this stuff up: Daniel Hannan was born in Lima, Peru to a British Peruvian family.  He is an New Worlder by birthright.   In the first 24 hours of this clip, posted by Hannan himself, there were more than a quarter million views.  Now it is at 316,00 and climbing: can it double up by the time the G20 opens on April 2?  A star is born on both sides of the Atlantic.  The legend of John Galt?  See below.

Colleague Thaddeus McCotter, 11th Michigan, with another droll commentary with quick Greg Gutfeld on the TARP fiasco from last fall and the AIG fiasco from this spring. Do not miss Thaddues McCotter's characterization of the Dodd and Geithner exchange on AIG as just like George Harrison's spat with Paul McCartney in "Let It Be" right before the Beatles self-destructed. Priceless rock'n'roll political wit.

John Batchelor discusses the Terroist watch list hitting 1 million with Eric Shawn on the Fox News Channel. The John Batchelor radio show can be streamed on Sunday nights, on ABC affiliated stations, http://www.wabcradio.com, http://www.wmal.com/ at 19:00hrs EST (-5 UTC GMT) and at 19:00hrs PST

The AIG firestorm overwhelms Washington, and the the few, very few, who have the correct voice on this scandal are those in the House of Representaives who voted "No" twice on the TARP folly last September 29 and October 3, 2008. That was the start of this legalized robbery by the bankrupts at AIG and their cousins the super bankers. Colleague Thaddeus McCotter, chair of the House Republican Policy Committee, was the only member of the Republican House leadership in the 1110th Congress to vote "No," twice against the TARP. On Monday evening, March 16, the day Washington caught fire on the AIG bonuses, Thaddeus McCotter spoke drolly on the floor of the House.

Colleague Thaddeus McCotter spends a swift five minutes on Fox's late night chat show hosted by the versatile Greg Gutfeld. That Thaddeus McCotter makes a coherent case for the GOP while avoiding the negative about the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress is a credit to his wit and camera skills. There is a fine moment about the rock'n'roll band "Rush," and also Thaddeus McCotter's "Second Amendment" band, now on sabbatical, receives nostalgiac attention.

Batchelor and Constable: G20 Showdown 

Batchelor & Constable: What U.S./U.K. Special Relationship? 

John Batchelor and Simon Constable, Dow Jones, explore the spooky parallel history between the 2009 visit of veteran Scot Laborite Prime Minister Gordon Brown to new Democratic President Barack Obama at the White House and the 1933 visit of veteran Scot Laborite Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald to new Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  Simon asks what is the evidence of a "special relationship" other than the assertion there is a "special relationship?"  The seemingly trivial details of the return of a

Winston Churchill bust, the cancellation of a White House joint press conference, and the peculiar mismatch of the exchanged gifts -- historically significant artifacts of two famous English ships, Gannet and Resolute, and a set of Sir Martin Gilbert's biography of Churchill from the PM vs a set of Hollywood movies, in obsolesced DVD format, including Star Wars from the POTUS -- all point to a chill in the "special relationship."  As ever, the English media enjoyed mocking the PM for the tempest and later for the PM's plaintive speech before a joint session of Congress (right).