There is no doubt that 2008 was a tough year for doing deals, but it was not as bad as some make it sound.

The combined volume of global mergers and acquisitions announced in 2008 came in at $3.3 trillion. That is down 28% from the all-time high of 2007, but it is still the fourth-highest deal volume in history — not a terrible year in the grand scheme of things.

That said, many business owners and dealmakers portray the entire year based on the last four months of the year which is when the financial crisis came to a head.

But even in the fourth quarter deals was not as bad a many make is sound.  In the United States, fourth-quarter announced deal volumes fell 60 percent compared to the third quarter. $115 billion in deals involving U.S. companies were announced in the last quarter of the year, making it the lowest quarterly total since first quarter of 2003, the bottom of the last M&A cycle. But deals were getting done.  In fact, MidCap Advisors, LLC closed two substantial deals for clients during the the fourth quarter.

To be sure there were some unhappy deal-makers in 2008, but all things considered 2008 wasn't the disaster that many observers portray.