Surviving the recession
Earlier today we published the reflections of a few members of the UK technology channel on the previous year. Now we bring you a view of the year to come from those same brave pundits.
Our feeling is that 2009 is going to be the survival of the fittest, with only those best able to adapt themselves to the new economic realities surviving.
And adapt they must, because we're unlikely to see such a plentiful supply of credit as preceded the crunch for a very long time. 2009 will be defined by the search for the ‘bottom' of the current slump, as economic indicators of all kinds are scrutinised for signs that the recession is ending.
However, that moment might be a case of ‘out of the frying pan into the fire', as the unprecedented amounts of liquidity injected into the global economy manifest themselves as inflation once the deflationary effect of the recession ends.
Consequently we're going to see more radical interest rate adjustments as central banks try to keep up with fluctuations in economic activity.
Don't be surprised if Gordon Brown picks the moment we emerge from recession (but before inflation - and thus interest rates - shoots up) to spring a general election and try to convince the public to elect him on an economic competence ticket.
The bad economic news is set to continue for at least the first half of the year, but we will start to see the dust settle and get an idea of what the post Bankageddon channel will look like.