Noted financial expert and celebrity high stakes poker player Andy Beal sees a very bleak future ahead for the US economy, this year and next.

In a recent article in Forbes, writer Nathan Vardi described him as:

a self-described libertarian kind of guy... very critical of the government’s intervention in the economy.

Beal predicts: a downturn in the market with a "drop" in stock values; and says, "Commercial real estate is headed for trouble"; finally, "failed banks," and a "credit bubble due to the Fed and easy money."

But it's in the area of employment where Beal sees the dreariest news.

From Forbes:

Unemployment will remain at current levels for several years. This, Beal reasons, is partly because the states have not even started laying people off. “I see all the governments having to tighten their belts, which is going to feed this snowball effect. I don’t think we have felt the impact yet of governmental staff reductions,” says Beal.