2012 started off with a series of hopeful developments: stock markets around the world were off to their best January in over a decade, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average currently stands at a level last seen before the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has pledged to keep interest rates near 0% until the end of 2014 in an effort to stimulate the economy, and the unemployment rate in the U.S. is currently at a three-year-low of 8.3%, down from a peak of 10%.