WHEN THE CAMERAS SPIN AROUND. A lot of weblog operators are following every jot and tittle of the war reportage -- This guy does a good job of getting to the pith. (In a recent entry he quotes Rumsfeld saying American forces are “closer to central Baghdad than many American commuters are from their downtown offices.”)

This moment-to-moment tracking of the invasion is not too interesting to me. I expect the U.S. will win this one -- call it a hunch -- and the precise moment the bridge at Al-Whatsit is taken just isn't uppermost in my thoughts.

I do note with interest doings on the home front, including Treasury Secretary Snow's recent statement: ""As a matter of principle, this administration believes we have an obligation to the American people to rebuild our economy, even as we protect our national security... Choosing one over the other is a false choice."

You read this and realize: while we've been paying attention to the inexhorable drive toward Baghdad, people are losing their shirts back home. Once the cameras spin back around, everything is going to look very different.

The IMF is sanguine ("Chance of U.S. Recession Now Only 15 Percent"), but most of us on the ground (particularly Ground Zero and thereabouts) don't have so rosy an outlook. We're not the only country with an economy, either, and the jitters are widespread. A walk through the global bankruptcy news gives some idea why.

Will the tax cut package help? Consider this report from New Jersey: "The idea as outlined by a state economic adviser would have the state tax billions of dollars freed up by President Bush's proposed tax cuts and use the money to help cure New Jersey's ailing budget situation." They're talking about taxing the tax cuts.

Economists have all kinds of explanations, and our national-greatness President seems content to will stimulus into existence, but in my experience, the money has to come from somewhere, and after the last big run on entitlements in the previous decade, there just aren't that many seat cushions to look under anymore.

In a little while we'll be in the post-war occupation phase, and that'll probably precipitate a quick spike in the stock market (and longer-term economic benefits for some). But generally I fear we'll be seeing a different kind of devastation when the Iraqi smoke clears.