Gates predicts recession will last until 2012

Speaking at the annual Technology, Entertainment, Design 2009 conference in California last night, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates predicted that the US economy would suffer another three to four "very tough" years.

Despite the hardships of the economic crisis, however, Gates called on world governments to continue investing in sectors such as education and healthcare.

"We're going through a period ... where a 50-year credit expansion has moved to contraction," said Gates. "You're going to have a number of years where aggregate demand is low."

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-Ken