Someone at the Financial Times has caught a serious case of the sillies. The Lex column, in case you are not a regular reader (and for shame, sir!), bills itself as FT's "agenda-setting column on business and financial topics." But yesterday, dear friends, the lords of finance behind Lex were concerned not with property and commerce, but with skewering President Barack Obama in an awkwardly hysterical fake speech. Excerpts:

Phew, we’ve been busy! It looks like my administration has been doing a million things at once – but I promise we’re in control.

First, let’s agree blame for this meltdown lies equally with Wall Street, Washington and Main Street. But mostly Wall Street.

Let me be straight: we will spend and save at the same time.

My word! Whatever was in the tea at the G20 summit must have made its way over to the Southwark Bridge. Next thing you know, headlines like "New era dawns: minds blown" will start hitting the front page. Wait, what?

Some good news today for anyone holding emerging markets equities: JP Morgan's chief emerging market strategist in Hong Kong is expecting stocks in the 23-country benchmark to surge a whopping 39 percent this year, according to a report he released today. He's feeling so good about prospects for the developing world, in fact, he argued that they may be better off than they were before Lehman tanked last summer.

That's pretty dramatic, but we can't say it's terribly shocking. Like Rana argued in her ink-on-paper column this week, this so-called "global recession" isn't exactly global after all. Rather, it's a rich world thing--and if the developing world plays its cards right, it has a lot to gain out of the current unpleasantness. As she notes, JP Morgan isn't the only one singing the emerging markets' praises. Goldman Sachs now thinks the BRICs' combined GDP could overtake that of the G7 a full decade earlier than they forecasted a few years back (the new projection is 2027, in case you were wondering). I can practically hear Lula asking if America likes apples...

(Photo credit: Give Up Internet!)

Phew! We at the WON blog congratulate you on making it through a particularly taxing tax season.

No Más: Spain's central bank chief says basta on any further fiscal stimulus, arguing the injections have reached a point of diminished returns. Unemployment in Spain is already at 15 percent and expected to worsen, making it the highest rate in the 27-country European Union.

Monroe Doctrine, Kaput: China steps up its game in Latin America, where it is the second-biggest trading partner, a move one analyst says is possible because of the lack of attention shown during the Bush administration. That is likely to be on Obama's mind when he meets with LatAm's leaders this weekend, especially since, as we learned recently, the Chinese are not the only ones eyeing the region's markets.

Foreclosure Tempest: The U.S. foreclosure floodgates opened in March as moratoriums expired. One out of every 159 households got hit with a foreclosure filing. It's not letting up anytime soon; analysts say the effect of the Obama mortgage bailout may not be seen until autumn.

The Big Engine That Could: Although growth in China's reserves has slowed, Brad Setser says they're still growing--and by more than you think. Nonetheless, that slowdown has led to a slowdown in its purchases of U.S. assets.

Raining on the India Parade: Indians should give Manmohan Singh the boot in today's elections, says Razeen Sally, aiming to deflate the "India hype" peddled by "smooth-talking" elites. Because the present government has failed to enact necessary reforms, he argues, India should be counted in the same league as China as an emerging superpower.

The Bailout of 1825: Brad DeLong takes to the pages of The Week to give us an English history lesson on bubbles and bailouts. The story has a happy ending.