Heavy sigh. It’s time to say good-bye to 2007. For most business people it’s probably good riddance.

Instead, most would just as soon leave it to the people in finance take care of the details on closing the books.

That reminds me of a strange notice I received last month from a local business telling me that all past due notices must be received to its accounting department by Dec. 19 or they will not be paid. Well, if they had paid their bills on time, they wouldn’t be past due notices, now, would they?

Ah, but that has to do with the past. Forget about it. Time to look ahead to 2008.

Call me an optimist but I’ve always found even-numbered years are better, business-wise, than odd-numbered years. Maybe that’s the media background in me. Even-numbered years have big elections in them and that usually means advertising revenue. Also, having worked at an NBC affiliate for so many years, it meant there would be the spike that comes from the Olympics telecasts.

It would be difficult for 2008 to be much worse than 2007 was. I’ve yet to come across anyone locally who thought business was good this year. In fact, the summer months may have been the worst many business’s have experienced in a long time. Did anyone out there have a good summer? Anyone?

Marshall Vest, the University of Arizona’s top-notch economist, told us earlier this month we’re in a recession that probably started in August or September. He points out economists predict things based on data and the data doesn’t come in until after the fact so it’s hard to tell. But Vest went out on a limb anyway. My bet is that he’s right.

Now the question is when do we hit bottom? Here, on the last day of the year, we can hope we’re at the bottom right now. Unfortunately, politicians’ pandering to Wall Street by monkeying around with interest rates and money flows could drag a recession out for years. All the while weakening the dollar – and the United States’ stature – in the world’s economy.

Such depressing thoughts at a time when I should be thinking positively about the future.

But there are so many questions unanswered.

For instance: Why do the buttons in the elevator in the surgery-maternity lobby at St. Joseph’s Hospital go to the 9th floor? There are only four floors in the hospital.

Was there a discount on elevators with nine buttons in them? Did someone plan for more floors at the hospital?

I’ve asked around, nobody I asked who is connected with the hospital knew the answer.

I’ll have to leave it as one of 2007’s unanswered questions.

E-mail comments for publication to editor@azbiz.com. Contact David Hatfield by e-mail at dhatfield@azbiz.com or call (520) 295-4237.