First of all, don't blame me for the pun-o-riffic title for this blog ... it was my producer Bethan, who is still laughing about it. 
 
But the truth is if you have read anything about QE2 (Quantitative Easing) then you have probably heard all the comparisons with Queen Elizabeth II or the QE2 cruise ship ... and how they actually have no comparison whatsoever. Stay with me here.
 
QE2 is the US's second installment of, as we said, quantitative easing ... which is in essence printing money to loan to banks and businesses. 

I won't do all the explaning here because Bethan has put together a very good sequence on the show this week, which explains it as clear as I have seen anywhere. 
 
But at the core of QE2 is the US's decision to spend its way to a (hopeful) economic recovery, rather than make cutbacks. 

This is something we have obviously covered extensively on CTC but here we have the US actually making its big move. 

You could even call it a gamble, because if this doesn't work ... well, what will?
 
To discuss this all, we welcome back James K Galbraith from the University of Texas at Austin, who was such an excellent guest on a similar topic a few weeks back.
 
Also this week, a look at President Obama's coming visit to India and the G20 meeting which is coming up in Seoul soon as well.
 
And right now, as I write this, I'm about to head off to the Four Seasons Hotel here in Doha to interview the Egyptian minister for trade and industry. 

We are very lucky that economic players from all over the world are doing business in Qatar, because it makes for good one-on-one interviews for the show!
 
(Plus the view at the Four Seasons is great!)
 
See you on TV for Counting the Cost and online at @AJCountingCost via twitter!

Counting the Cost can be seen each week at the following times GMT: Friday: 1430, 2130; Saturday: 0300, 1230; Sunday: 0630, 1930; Monday: 0030, 0730.