A week and a half after a historic win, it's crystal clear the world's heading into a recession at break-neck speed. While I hadn't held out any hopes after Obama's win - why would I? It was clear that neither he nor McCain would have a clue as to how to handle this once they were in office - I am just astounded by the speed at which everything has occurred.

The day after the election, for instance, the NASDAQ finished down for the first time in seven sessions. A couple of days later, the unprecedented 150 basis point cut by the Bank of England failed to do anything whatsoever to the FTSE. Now Mervyn King has come out to say that he'll keep on cutting rates to ensure that the UK economy is stimulated as much as possible. It's a bit of a catch-22 situation to be sure. Cutting rates to make borrowing cheaper and encouraging people to spend in order to stimulate the economy at a time when few people have the capacity to spend and are fearing for their livelihoods... it just doesn't work.

I'm actually of the opinion that perhaps nothing should be done. No active steps taken. Certainly no more bail-outs. It's a good time to clean out the inefficiencies of the system, after all, although the resultant bloodbath is painful to contemplate.

But, as has been shown, nobody likes a person who takes no action, even if that path does happen to be the best path to take. They're seen as ineffectual, indecisive and unwilling to take action. And that's not a good light for any politician or high-ranking government official to be seen in.

These are incredibly depressing times we live in. It's a great opportunity for people to prove their mettle, though at the same time, it's a terrible time to be looking for new - or should I say, different - challenges.

Apologies. It's been a long week. Seeing all the news about job cuts across all industries, as well as knowing that companies tend to cut people before they receive their bonuses (yes, I am still hoping for one, as I have worked incredibly hard this year), has taken its toll on me.