Sorry folks but it looks as though we are well and truly financially f***ed

The House of Representatives has voted down the $700bn plan to bail out Wall Street; Wall Street is down by 5%-6% this afternoon and the FTSE will go through the floor tomorrow. If you need something else to worry about then look out for the Nikkei and the Hang Seng in the small hours of tomorrow morning, a collapse there could have some rather nasty side-effects on business in the UK.

For around two years I have been predicting a severe financial collapse but even I have been taken aback by the speed with which the system has fallen apart. At present I really cannot see a way out of this mess and I truly believe that we have a lot further down to go before a way out will become clear.

There are a lot of people who, like me, will wish they had sold up last spring - we are all going to lose a lot of money and of course early retirement is going to be just a fond foregone dream.