A game of two halves but sponsors are getting shirty

A sure sign that a company is heading for the rocks used to be the goldfish tank at reception. Now it is a high-profile sports sponsorship. Already this season Premier League soccer shirt sponsors Northern Rock (Newcastle United), XL Travel (West Ham) and AIG (Man United) have been in the wars, while Six Nations rugby sponsors Royal Bank of Scotland were last week bailed out by the British government. The club with the worst record is Charlton Athletic whose sponsors Allsports crashed in 2005, followed by Spanish property firm Llanera, which collapsed with debts of £500m last autumn. The team now bear the name of Carbrini Sportswear on their shirts. Carbrini is owned by JD Sports, which recently bucked the trend by announcing a 3% rise on December sales.

Danger Ahead - Sign of the Times

Registered vehicle sales in Ireland

News Cars: In 2007 there was 180,754 down 19% in 2008 to 146,470

New goods vehicles: In 2007 there was 811 down 47.5% to 426

Second-hand cars: In 2007 there was 58,718 up 2.3% to 60,091

Seconds out...

Roosevelt V?Obama

The current global crisis is the worst since the 1930s, but it has a long way to go to reach those depths. When Franklin Roosevelt was inaugurated on 4 March 1933, US unemployment was running at 28.3% (13 million people) and 11,000 banks had failed. Deflation was raging, more than 2.5 million people were homeless and manufacturing was at less than two-thirds of capacity.

By contrast, Barack Obama faces a 7.2% unemployment rate, with even the most pessimistic analysts reckoning it won't hit double figures. The collapse of the Bank of Clark County and the National Bank of Commerce last week brings to 23 the number of banks that have gone bust since July. Deflation has not occurred, and while homelessness has started to rise, at 1.4 million it is still well below 1930s figures. Manufacturing capacity fell 2% in Dec­em­ber to 71%.