It is important for us to learn from the failure of the Japanese experience in the 90s. A first lesson is certainly that the bank system has to be seriously cleared up. The Japanese financial institutions are associated with the notion of zombie banks.

Being clear now that we need to make a second round of recapitalization around the world, the concept of bad bank reappears. This is an institution where junk credits from big Belgian banks can be put.

Because we did not save our margins when the economy was doing well, the average employee will have to pay an extra €3700. This also implicates we will not have the budgetary means of effectively stimulating the economy.

Some entrepreneurs chose for the profession out of necessity while others made a deliberate choice in order to grasp a business opportunity. For the first group, push factors like the small amount of job opportunities triggered by a high unemployment were a sufficient motivation.