Tim Blair looks at the Midas Muffler school of economics:

2001:

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., dramatized his objections [to the Bush tax cut] ...he held up a spare part and said, "If you're a typical working person, you get $227, and that's enough to buy this muffler."

2008:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's wife, Michelle, complained the government's $600 economic stimulus check was only enough to buy "a pair of earrings" ...

Or nearly three mufflers. Which, for the sake of her husband's campaign, Ms Tiffany Cartier Michelle DeBeers Obama might consider using.