Congratulations to America on having the good sense to chuck out the war-mongering Bush admin. and install Barry the cool.

Australia waits with hope and some optimism as President Barack Obama moves to fix the economy as well as changing the world politic to one seeking peace through diplomacy.

The planet feels safer in Australia.

America is the third country to change it's conservative and fear driven Government in a year. Australia and England threw out the Blair and Howard Governments last year for lying to us about the gulf and Iraq and their piss weak acceptance of the Bush Cheney wars, so we have a good start to 2009.

We have, like England and America been robbed by the banks, and we need that money back.

So far we have seen little chance of that happening under Obama.

Barrack Obama has given African Americans hope. Hope that is more than any words could ever do alone. He is black and he has the top job and it fits him like a well tailored suit. His public acceptance spans all Americans. In his speech he made his view crystal clear.

He stands for peace at every level of American society as well as the rest of the world, who it seems he may listen too! The Bush Government just told other countries what to do and think. President Obama knows more about different cultures too, having a foot in both worlds so to speak.

Obama support.

If anyone has the support to do the right thing it is this 44th President.

The noise from the streets says it all. This Presidential incumbent is up to the job, when it comes to having the charisma and smarts to move the American people to a much better outlook. Just remember it is not a one man job to fix the world.

What I hope for and I may not be alone in this, is that he can use Biden, Clinton and his other executives to make radical changes to Congressional outcomes.

I can't see it yet, with the new treasury still full of wall street "wide boys" like foxes in the chicken Coop handing the chickens and eggs over the fence to their best mates in the banks, so they can use this public money for acquisitions!

Why wonder where the bailout money has gone to? It has been handed to the banks to add to their bottom line, and thereby allowing them to lend. They can't. They are spending it on buying each other and smaller operators to add to their market share. This is complete bullshit whichever way they try to serve it up.

The current banking system needs cleansing of the white collar mafia.

These crooks made outrageous profits out of shifting dirty paper in a game of weasel words, double talk and marketing excess.

The world economy would have been better off if our Governments had forced the offending banks to keep the inflated value on their books, not yours.

The people who represented this product although within the letter of the law, cheated and defrauded, and the politicians on both sides are guilty as hell when it comes to changes made in legislation that allowed the crooks room to up the risk and so up the profit.

What I know of business, is if you up the risk to get more profit you take that risk, not the poor workers you know you can stiff. Come on America give Barry a hand.

America continues to support the Wall Street super-rich and this must stop now.

White collar criminals are still running the money supply using the American public's money. They are still cheating and lying about their incomes, the extent of debt, they cheat on their taxes and contribute nothing to the American economy other than debt and misery.

No, the American people are great, I mean America's people have revolted, and I would suggest a black President is a part of that revolt.

America is showing that wonderful spirit again, but in Australia we fear the rock star image your public figures enjoy (or not). I hope people can see he is just a man. The expectations of some people are naive in the extreme and he may soar high until the practical job of repairing such a world wide mess is tackled.

Imagine no need for evictions, the bank just gets payments based on the realizable value today, and cop the loss they manufactured.

.Hey presto. the market works again and property prices recover without help.

Housing is overvalued.

It was never scarcity that made houses in Australia England and America increase to such ridiculous values.

Crooked bankers and their weasel- word marketers caused the false over-valuations and "easy money" mortgages, force our banks back to secure long term moderate profit markets where they belong.

The financial institutions must be kept away from smaller domestic lending if they can't play pool.