The American economy contracted at the fastest pace since 1982 in the fourth quarter of 2008. The GDP declined 3.8 percent. The economists contend that the drop would have been over 5 percent had the American companies cut their production more aggressively. Instead, they’ve just built up their inventories, once the inventories are depeleted, the GDP is projected to contract over 5 percent. This is what the predictions for the first quarter of 2009 currently are. President Obama was just a little bit irritated yesterday at the Wall Street Barons for destroying their companies and the U.S. economy in the process and STILL paying themselves bonuses. Based on the reports of the New York state comptroller's office, 2008 combined Wall Street bonuses were sixth-largest in history, on par with bonuses paid out in 2004 (Remember 2004? That was a good year, when Dow was at 10,000 mark, two thousand points higher than it stands today). How’s that for defiance in the face of adversity? Hmmm… they were playing music on the deck of the Titanic, too. But in that case, playing the music did not cause the ship to sink, while bad management of the Wall Street companies did bring on the financial crisis that was the beginning of the economy-wide crisis. Nobody thinks the CEOs should be rewarded for that, and President Obama simply voiced what the vast majority of Americans are thinking. And the stimulus debate moved from the House of Representatives to the Senate on Thursday. The Senate version of the bill would clock in at $900 billion, but the exact mix of stimulus spending is what's being determined now before the Senate votes on the measure some time next week.