WebProNews

A new year is often accompanied by a large wave of optimism.  But in the UK, the standard "happy 2008" may have been followed by a less-cheerful "here's hoping we're not all screwed."

The cause of this gloom is, in short, the global economy.  The Financial Times surveyed 55 respected economists, and afterwards, reported, "[C]onfidence has tumbled from a year ago.  The experts also fear that compared with 2001-02, the scope for financial authorities to mitigate any downturn is far more limited."

It's important to keep in mind that even experts aren't always right - if these people knew the market especially well, they'd probably be retired economists - but things don't look good.

The housing market has caused people to lose their homes.  We've seen loads of layoffs at what used to be some of the world's strongest companies.  And in one example of an online deathwatch, E*Trade's stock is still near zero.

"Britain this year faces the most difficult economic conditions since the dotcom bubble burst," summarized Chris Giles and Delphine Strauss.  "Here's hoping," indeed.