Forgive us a moment of self-congratulation.

This blog was set up to say things that were obvious to many people actually in business, but which were not being said in the mainstream media.

So over the last eighteen months we said a number of things which few others were saying at the time – indeed, we often felt like a lone voice.

Yet many of the things we said have since become commonplaces in the media and subjects of political debate.

Here are some of the things we got right. We mention them not because we want to boast – well, not much – but to show why reading this blog is better value than employing highly paid analysts.

1   A crash was coming in 2008 – a fairly obvious prediction in retrospect, but it still caught most of the big banks and investors by surprise.

2   Recovery would probably begin fairly quickly, so long as no one panicked – again, not exactly rocket science, but this obvious truth escaped panic-mongers in the media who were talking about the end of capitalism.

3   The negative consequences will, however, be with us for a long time to come, especially in those countries with big budget deficits – the people who cheered the stimulus packages of a few months ago have just seen the bill and are beginning to worry about it.

4   The problem with the banking sector was not too few regulations but too many regulatory authorities – the irony of calls for more regulation is that they initiated serious debate, which has revealed that lack of regulations was not so much a problem as poor enforcement by too many agencies.

5   Cuts in central bank base interest rates do not mean cuts in the interest rates paid by businesses – which are paying higher rates for less money.

6   The bank bail-out was necessary, and has proved a short-term success, but the contradictions implicit in governments owning banks are proving a major headache, as managers are being ordered to increase lending and increase capital at the same time.

7   The bail-out of General Motors has done nothing to transform it into a business capable of making products that people want to buy.

8   Tokenistic government schemes to help small business have had little effect on bankruptcies and unemployment, but higher taxes, especially property taxes and payroll taxes, are definitely having an effect.

9   Higher rate taxes are prompting many to contemplate emigration, which will reduce the tax base further and make fiscal problems worse.

10  The reduced private sector cannot carry on supporting a public sector that is actually expanding.