Learning lessons - States must assert their authority

IT SEEMS that each and every day it becomes more difficult to retain a hope that we may be able to engineer our way out of our difficulties without great upheaval or, dread of dreads, enduring far, far more difficult and miserable times.

Yesterday, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) added to our foreboding by predicting that recession will cloud our horizons until the end of 2009 at least.

The ESRI also predicted that Gross Domestic Product will contract by 1.3% this year and shrink further by 0.7% next year. If that was not enough to make you white-knuckle the worry beads they also predict that unemployment will rise from 6% to 8% next year. That represents one in 12 of our workforce.