Well, it's probably some sort of unwritten rule that blogs, news outlets, magazines, etc. are required to do a retrospective at the end of each calendar year. I'll give in to that briefly. We'll also take a prospective look at 2009.
I think 2008 will no doubt be remembered for two things in American history: the election of Barack Obama and the collapse of the economy. On the world stage, we had the conflict between Russia and Georgia, ongoing tensions in the Middle East, and the broader financial downturn across the globe.
I think that we'll look back at Obama's election as a key event in American history regardless of the successes and failures of his administration. I'm not in the position to opine on that outcome - I'm largely pessimistic with dashes of optimism - but, the election of a black man as President of the United States will be a significant for generations.
The economic crisis of 2008 has the potential to become even more significant. The crisis has its beginning in 2007, but the impact was much broader and bigger in 2008. Ultimately, the potential for a greater collapse looms in the future, but 2008 could likely be remembered as 1929 is today - despite 1933 being, arguably, the worst year of the Great Depression.
We'll take a look forward to 2009 in an upcoming post.
Happy New Year (again)... A closer look at the FED and the federal funds rate is coming soon.
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