Confidence in recovery - All we have to fear is fear itself

In the past couple of years, more than 1,000 people a month have gone into business for themselves. In the process, they have exhibited the kind of entrepreneurial drive and fighting spirit that will be necessary to drag this country out of our current malaise.

An economic recession can actually be a good time to start up a new business, because it tends to foster a spirit of hard work and enterprise, and it is also possible to draw from a larger pool of skilled people who are ready to welcome such a challenge.

A recent EU survey found that there is greater entrepreneurial spirit in this country than among our European neighbours. Irish people are among the most willing to take such a chance in business. Maybe it is part of our gambling spirit.

The whole thing largely comes down to confidence. It is to be profoundly hoped that those people who have demonstrated confidence in their own individual spirit of enterprise will inspire confidence in others during 2011. Restoring consumer confidence is necessary to get people to spend more, rather than saving in fear of harder times to come.

“What we have to fear is fear itself,” US President Franklin Roosevelt famously said during the Great Depression. What we need now is confidence.