Obama took the lead in putting together an international solution to the financial crisis. He has taken bold decisions to prevent the crisis turning into a full-blown depression, such as pushing through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 which was to give an estimated $787billion stimulus to the economy, [i] and has acted to control the worst excesses of Wall Street through the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. [ii] He has passed consumer protections legislation relating to credit cards and mortgages and established a framework to double US exports by 2015. He created and Advanced Manufacturing Fund to help the economy away from its addiction to the antics of Wall Street wide boys and return the focus to industries that make something tangible and, in the same spirit, rescued Detroit from its own suicidal tendencies.  He has freely conceded that unemployment is too high and is working to address that in the midst of an economic crisis that was not of his making. However, he is delivering public policy solutions in new and imaginative areas as opposed to the tired claims of Republicans that yet another tax cut would be a panacea for all economic ills.  [i] Recovery.gov, ‘The Recovery Act’  [ii] The Library of Congress Thomas, ‘H.R.4173 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act’, 111th Congress 2009-2010