Barack Obama is not the only leader trusting in government "stimulus" to revive an economy. Prime Minister Putin has outlined his program, including a "Cash for Clunkers" program to boost sales of Russian automobiles. Apparently, no one in the Kremlin bothered to check out how well that worked in the U.S. Once the "cash" is gone, the sales drop again.

There is no theme in the Putin Plan, no sense that it's the supply side of the economy that needs to be stimulated, not the demand side. Maybe foreign investors will be impressed, but I doubt it.