The pros don't all seem to be as bearish.  Here is what John Neff and Ken Heebner said:

John Neff
Former Manager, Vanguard Windsor Fund

I don't see a recession. The decline of the dollar has made American industry quite competitive in the world, and ordinary manufacturing will help the economy. I've always been a low P/E investor, because low P/E gives you the benefit of a decent company's growth, plus the chance to move the P/E up. That's how I ran Windsor fund successfully for over 31 years.

In late January I started buying new stocks. I bought ConocoPhillips (COP), which I had sold at about $85 to $89, when it was suddenly below $70. I bought more shares of Seagate (STX), which I already owned. It got unduly pummeled, in part because it's a tech company, and it got down to seven times earnings. It's the only tech stock I've owned in the past 12 years, and I wouldn't buy it if it was 13 times earnings. I also bought a small-cap company, Georgia Gulf (GGC). It's a decent chemical company. It's overleveraged right now because it made an acquisition and used debt, and the stock got down to $3.50. So I bought in. The following week the stock was at $5.90. Not a bad percentage gain.


Ken Heebner
Co-founder, Capital Growth Management and portfolio manager, CGM Realty Fund

It's time to be positive. While the American economy is a little weaker than I thought it was going to be, I don't think a recession is going to happen. Whatever degree of weakness we experience, the global economy is going to continue to move ahead. Agricultural and industrial commodities will continue to show strength. The Fed has shown that they are going to take aggressive action to minimize the impact of the mortgage problem on the U.S. economy, and if there is any side effect, it will weaken the dollar and stimulate commodities prices.

If you look at the fundamental underpinnings for the contraction of economies in developing countries, those factors are no longer present. Until recently, they were dependent on imports of capital to provide for investment into their economies. At the same time they tended to have significant current account deficits. When they had current account deficits it was the inflow of capital that provided the stimulus for growth. Today, they have large current account surpluses, and they don't need an influx of capital to cause their economies to grow. In terms of stocks, I think the long-term potential for Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR) continues intact. The company recently discovered the Jupiter field of natural gas--a major discovery off Brazil. So the pattern of favorable news continues.