Prediction or Predicament?

We've been doing this recession thing for a while now (a whole year). During that time everyone has obviously been wondering when it'll all be over. This has led to a whole series of predictions, ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous:

• At the beginning of the end of the world (recession) fear-mongering was the word of the day, and only the bravest of forecasters tentatively cast out dates usually within the 2012 range
• However, when things started getting a whole lot better (I'm thinking March of this year) some commentators started loudly declaring that 'it could all be over by Christmas' - sound familiar much?!
• Most recently the figure 2010 has been chucked around although not without warning; there will be a high risk of relapse, or so they say

But now this man has joined in:

The country's most popular/most hated current chancellor. Oh what fun a monopoly is! Jumping on the bandwagon he has predicted we will be out of the sorry mess "round the turn of the year" (oh the accuracy is so reassuring btw). This is a dangerous move for a number of reasons. First off, despite being Chancellor, Darling doesn't really have the creds to make such a seismic prediction under his own name Secondly, the tide of events during this series of predictions have shown that if you get it wrong (and in some cases badly wrong) you'll be drawn to the slaughter. Tick 'General Election - it's been 4 years' Tock. So, a bit of advice Darling. Leave it to those without an election to lose to forecast such controversial things.