I would throw in a couple of additional points:

The major banks – BoA, Wells-Fargo, Citigroup, etc. have vastly greater losses than they have capital to cover. Add to that many regional banks about to take big commercial real estate hits, and the FDIC "insurance" is worthless for any business.

Banks will fail soon, we just don't know which ones yet.

You can guarantee that when the voters can't get money out of their savings account, Congress will insure they get the bailout this time. There is no cash available for an FDIC bailout – only more of Uncle Sam's credit card, and it is getting close to its limit. Be prudent – assume if your bank go under you will recover zero.

So it's time to really dig into your bank's balance sheet – you don't want discover a problem by having payroll checks bounce.

Second point – necessities will come first. It's time to go reread Maslow and re-discover the hierarchy of needs. People will pay for food and items associated with food first, then shelter (note this doesn't necessarily mean the mortgage payment right now, but does include power, heating oil, etc.). For a refresher see this link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs

Assume physical and safety needs will consume the bulk of available cash, so if we are hunting new sales – we need to sell where the cash is most likely to be available.

So if you are planning a new marketing campaign aimed at selling gold-plated electrical fixtures to pet stores that specialize in crystal dishes and escargot-pureee cat food, it's time for a new plan.

Spectacular article. Right on the mark. I'm forwarding it to every entrepreneur I know. I've been blogging on similar topics, especially in the area of "what is a business owner to do?" More at http://zthree.com/blog/category/sales/

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and wisdom.