FOR investors in anything at the moment, it continues to be an extremely uncertain and volatile climate.

THE subprime crisis was the big story of 2007, is the big story of 2008 and will inevitably be the big story of 2009 and probably beyond.

THE summer silly season is coming to an abrupt end and over the coming days the nation will be returning to schools and workplaces to face into the challenges that the new work and academic year will bring.

THE news on the jobs front this week has not made for very pleasant reading.

IT APPEARS that nothing is going right for the Irish economy at the moment. Over the past week we have again been hit with a barrage of negative news on the real economy, all of it suggesting the deterioration is continuing and has not yet bottomed out.

THE Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan has attracted considerable flak since his candid comments about the economy last week.

WHATEVER way one looks at it, the Irish housing market is in serious difficulty at the moment. Prices are still falling, buyers are still not buying, and house builders are building little other than one-off housing. New home registrations in May were 61% down on a year earlier. This is a collapse by any standard.

A COUPLE of years ago we were bombarded with coverage about rip-off Ireland which culminated in the politically populist but flawed decision to abolish the groceries order.

FOR investors in the Irish equity market, 2007 was a dreadful year. Share prices fell heavily across the board as a wall of international selling reflected a total loss of international belief in the Irish economic story.

NAPOLEON had a preference for lucky generals. Our outgoing Taoiseach was certainly such a general.