Bill Gross

"The financial markets and global economies are at great risk," warns Gross in his Jan. 2012 investment outlook letter. Gross and others at Pacific Investment Management Co., or Pimco, had been predicting a relatively orderly period of slow growth and gradual debt reduction in the developed world. After a disappointing 2011 performance for the fund he manages -- the largest bond fund in the world -- Gross now forecasts a far more unpredictable future, with equal probability of either "deflation" or "re-flation."

(Left, Chris Steele, a clothing designer, fills out applications for temporary or temp-to-hire positions during a job fair in Bloomington, Minnesota.)

Photograph by Ariana Lindquist/Bloomberg