Christian Broda, professor of economics at the University of Chicago, has created a map where he replaced U.S. states with countries with a similar level of GDP. With an $825 billion stimulus package on it’s way to the House floor, we get yet another perspective on America’s role in the global marketplace. It is pretty crazy that all of Canada’s GDP is about the same as Texas. More surprising was Russia’s GDP was about equal to New Jersey. And they don’t even have the Giants.

Via Clusterflock

After several hours of planes, trains, and automobiles I arrived late last night into the snowed in über famous town of Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum. Boy is it gorgeous and hectic here. The air is cold, security is tight, bullet proof Mercedes are plentiful, and the opening parties so far, quite good. I’m kicking off my day today bright and early with a CNBC debate entitled “Who’s in Charge?” moderated by Maria Baritromo with panelists like Ibrahim Dabdoub, the CEO of the National Bank of Kuwait, Nandan M Nilekani from Infosys, and the famed (and apparently very nice) George Soros, who just walked past me as I write this!
I’ll be doing my best to live blog throughout the day, but in the mean time feel free to follow me on Twitter. Note to self, Swiss outlets are not European outlets. Must find charger asap!