Hey… the rally is on!  Yesterday, the Dow rose 235 points. And the public’s mood is at an 8-month high.

“Look, things look a lot better now than they did back in October,” said a lawyer we spoke with yesterday. “I think things really hit bottom towards the end of last year.”

Our friend’s view is probably the dominant one. Things are looking up. Not that the news is good, but it just seems “less bad” than it was… or even less bad than was expected.

Foreclosure filings are at a record high. But “most homeowners think bottom reached,” said a news item on the internet.

“Bank crisis in US could last to 2013,” adds a headline from Reuters. Yet, most people think the banks are on the mend. They don’t expect any further major bank failures. They think the financial sector will come back… maybe slowly, but more or less

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January 14, 2009 ndash; Yesterday Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold introduced S. 222 to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase the national limitation on qualified energy conservation bonds and to clarify that certain programs constitute a qualified conservation purpose, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Finance. We expect to see further legislation supporting energy efficiency and alternative energy development. Here is the text from Feingoldrsquo;s comments on the floor:nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, over the past few days I have introduced a series of bills that are part of my E4 Initiative, dubbed E4 because of its focus on economy, employment, education, and energy. Today I am introducing two bills that are part of this effort: the Community Revitalization Energy Conservation, CREC, Act of 2009 and the Energy and Technology Advancement, ETA, Act of 2009.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; The newest among my E4 bills is the Community Revitalization Energy Conservation, CREC, ...