And the topic of today’s lecture is… you guessed it: the economy. The President sounded very “professorial,” delivering his speech at the Georgetown University. The Administration is striking at the critics today with two players most listened to on the matters of the economy, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and the President himself, making major economic speeches one after another. This is the perfect time to define the successes the Administration has had in fighting the worst of the economic crisis. Congressional critics are in recess, and the first quarter earnings reports are coming out. It’s the right moment for the President to reassure the public that the results of all the economic measures taken by the federal government will be forthcoming in due time. The main take-away from the President’s speech is that we need to build a new foundation for the U.S. economy. President Obama said that we can not go back to the “bubble-and-bust economy” where recklessness of the few threatened the entire economy. Also, this new foundation of “stone,“ as the President put it, should be based on consuming less at home and sending more exports abroad. Echoing the President’s “glimmer of hope” sentiment about the economy, Fed Chairman Bernanke said today that he is “fundamentally optimistic” about the economy’s long-term prospects. At the same time he acknowledged that the economic conditions remain difficult. The Fed Chairman was delivering a speech to students at Morehouse College. Wall Street is not having its best day, even as the glimmers of hope about the economy are being discussed. The Dow fell below 8,000 points again. Other indexes also fell well over 1%. The markets were spooked by the poor March retail sales report and continued uncertainty in the financial sector.