Don't worry, be happy? Well, not exactly.
David Caruso, chairman and CEO of the Danvers-based Coastal Capital Group, used the title of the 1988 Bobby McFerrin song to open his presentation before the North Shore Chamber of Commerce Wednesday morning.
And, in fact, both he and Robert Lutts, president and chief investment officer for Cabot Money Management, were clear in stating they expect 2010 to be a better year than the one just ended.
Caruso described the 2000s as "the single worst decade in history." So it stands to reason things are going to get better.
Which was certainly music to the ears of the business people assembled for the meeting all of whom, when asked by Caruso, described themselves as feeling "upbeat" — as opposed to euphoric or defeated — about the future. That attitude is also borne out by the latest Associated Industries of Massachusetts' Business Confidence Index released this week which was up for the sixth straight month.
Housing has not been so affordable to so many people since 1972, Lutts pointed out, and the recent recession has created a terrific amount of pent-up demand among both businesses and consumers. He's predicting a significant rebound in the stock market, advising his listeners, "You need to get on the train today."
So why worry? There are a number of reasons, according to both speakers whose forecasting ability has made them regulars on media outlets ranging from WBZ Radio to CNBC. Here are a few:
For one thing, there's the huge federal deficit — the now $12 trillion gorilla in the room. The more it grows, the more the U.S. dollar is devalued.
Yet addressing it will likely require an increase in taxes — which means less money for people to invest and spend.
There's the increasing threat of inflation. The Federal Reserve can try to stem the tide by raising interest rates, but that could also put the brakes on what has thus far been a tenuous, and mostly jobless, recovery.
And then there's the price of oil which has once again been rising at an alarming rate in recent weeks.
But therein may lie the best hope for our economy over the long term.
Lutts describes ours as "the most adaptable nation in the world." Already much money and brainpower are being applied to the development of a gas-less car and ways of harnessing the sun and wind for the production of electricity.
Given the previous technological advances achieved here — the telephone, the mechanical harvester, the rocket that put the first man on the moon — it's a good bet American ingenuity can pull us through this next century.
