What Ian is describing is a recession - remember them, we had them in the 60's and 70's, when we had a cyclical economy and then along came the 80's with all the madness that entailed, markets changed entirely, economic theories came and went. But whether you're a classical economist, monetarist or Keynesian, the truth is that we've been living in a Golden Age of unusual stability and prosperity for the last 20-30 years and in the meantime the structure of industry in this country has changed dramatically from heavy to hi-tech and service. Supply and demand, tax and spend, some people will win and some will lose and that's how life it, things change and the economy moves on.