Commercial Printing Outlook -- Build Up in Down Time

One of the factors contributing to the uncertainty is the reality of the global economy. This is not a new development, but the worldwide fallout of the financial crisis provided striking evidence of the depths to which the fortunes of countries have become intertwined.

Another big unknown has been how long repercussions of the mortgage crisis will continue to reverberate through the U.S. economy. The widely cited statistic is that consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of GDP and, in recent years, much of that spending has been enabled by growing household debt—via ballooning credit card balances and mortgage refinancing.