Minnesota Management & Budget sent out its January economic update and the key word appears to be "grim". Their predictions put 2009 in the category of worst economy since World War II.
The only bright spots are the lower gas prices and low fixed mortgage rates. Their claim is that a possible stimulus plan in the works and the release of the TARP will help but not in the short term:
That program will greatly reduce the likelihood that the 2007-09 recession will turn into the 2007-10 recession, but it is unlikely to have any significant impact on the U.S. economy until early summer. Also, the proposed package attacks just one of the economy’s current problems, the decline in consumer spending. Credit markets also must begin to operate normally, and until capital again flows freely throughout the world, the U.S. economy to is expected to struggle. Repairing damage will require release of the second tranche of the TARP (the Troubled Asset Relief Program) and possibly more.
