Or you could take heed of Bill Clinton’s former labor secretary Robert Reich. He reckons we’re not in for a “U” or a “V” or an “L” shaped recovery but an “X”. This from underground investor Jon Herring, writing for Investor’s Daily Edge:

We don’t usually care much for the Marxist musings of Clinton’s Lilliputian former labor secretary, Robert Reich. But he got it right when he recently commented on how the recovery from this recession will look.

It will not be a V-shaped recovery, nor a U. But an X.

“This economy can’t get back on track, because the track we were on for years […] simply cannot be sustained. The X marks a brand new track – a new economy. What will it look like? Nobody knows. All we know is the current economy can’t ‘recover’ because it can’t go back to where it was before the crash. So instead of asking when the recovery will start, we should be asking when and how the new economy will begin…”

He’s right. Declining median wages and mounting consumer debt is not a model for a sustainable economy. And with 70% of our economy dependent on consumer spending, where is the recovery going to come from?

What’s the “take home” message for investors in all this? As Jon says, “Watch your stops. And learn how to trade the markets safely. With just a small portion of your portfolio you can add to your overall returns and reduce your risk.”