At least the roller coaster image has the car going up!(editor's page) (Editorial)

• Author: Heffes, Ellen M.

I wish we had better news for you as we start this new year. With our roller-coaster cover image, I'm sure you already get the picture of what could be in store. Now, we're not exactly gloomy. Note, the roller coaster is on the ascent, and there is some upside. But you don't see a happy-face logo on our cover.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

In this forecast issue, among the words that are consistent herein are: challenging, uncertain, unprecedented, low investment returns, slow growth, high unemployment, tempered expectations--and all resulting in more risk and more "wait and see."

On the upside, corporate cash is strong--in mid-December, The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. corporations were sitting on $1.93 trillion in cash and other liquid assets at the end of September, which was up from $1.8 trillion at the end of June. "The cash buildup shows the deep caution many companies feel about investing in expansion while the economic recovery remains painfully slow and high unemployment and battered household finances continue to limit consumers' ability to spend," read the lead story on Dec. 10.

You'll find some of these themes echoed in the articles that appear in this 2011 Forecast issue, which is disappointingly sounding too much like many of the themes we've heard last year. Indeed, the question aptly posed by contributing editor Scott Ladd in his article on the economy asks: Is it deja vu all over again?

Ladd spoke with two noted economists--Nicholas Sargen, chief investment officer for Fort Washington Investment Advisors, and Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial--to get their perspectives of what's ahead.

In another article, venture capitalist Peter Cohan writes on what elements are needed for business growth this year. Keys to a U.S. economic recovery, he writes, are a boost in consumer spending, coupled with a...