President Bush gave his final press conference this morning, using the word that in his mind best describes his experience in the White House: “misunderestimated.” Bush indicated that he would be willing to make President-elect Obama’s life easier and ask the Congress to release the remaining $350 billion of the TARP money. However, Obama hasn’t asked him to do anything in that regard. Many Americans still wonder where, exactly, the first $350 billion went. Congressional members have expressed disappointment about how the funding has been used on many occasions. In other words, asking for the money again is a touchy subject. It is understandable that the incoming Obama administration wants to handle such a sensitive matter themselves: “Thanks, Mr. President, it’s sweet of you, but we’ll handle it.” The next administration dispatched Lawrence Summers, Obama’s top economic advisor, to the Hill over the weekend to provide some assurances about how the TARP funds will be spent (the key word is: “differently”). Other key words include: “transparently” and “providing help to homeowners”. The markets meanwhile are doing their own thing: going down, mostly. The oil now trades below $40 per barrel. This news would have made a lot of people happy just 6 months ago. Now, it only shows what a slump the global economy is in. The oil-greased engines of the global production and trading machines are slowing down. According to the Deutsche Bank analysts, the oil consumption will drop 1 million barrels per day this year, as the global recession sets further in. The Dow Industrial lost over 53 points, the S&P 500 lost almost 10 points, or over 1 percent, and Nasdaq slumped 0.9 percent by mid-morning trading.