Interesting...it's only going to get worse~
Thanks for the info!

They have a right to fear. They've really mucked the system out, there is far more debt than most Americans can ever pay in their lifetimes.

The loss of homes is going to end the equity loan wallets some were using.

Most likely by this fall say sept/oct we may see the first large wave of student loan and credit card defaults. I don't think its over yet.

For Sale signs and Auction signs EVERYWHERE........ so sad........
Its a buyers market, if you can afford it right now, but the average Joe is in a postion where there's no way they can, most of them.

The economy has "Joe" in a vise between gas and groceries, housepayment and utilities, and things STILL just keep going up more.....

Soon a single person will no longer be able to afford to live alone, and already BOTH PARENTS normally have to work to just make ends meet. And the sad part is that most of these folks do not live estravagently, they just live from paycheck to paycheck.

Don't know WHAT our senior citizens are going to do on just a social security check........ choice of meds or roof over their heads????
Talk about population control!!!!

The "American Dream" got out of hand in the past 10 years, now everybody is taking a fall.....................

the problem, as i see it, is that homeownership should always be a "goal" and not a dream. when i bought my house in 99 i had virtually no debt to speak of - a small balance of 500 bucks on a credit car and one year left to pay on a car loan. i had 30 g's in the bank on my 35 g salary. i exercised really poor judgement by buying a house that "needed me" - a 120 year old home - and when i spent my 30 g's i exercised even more poor judgement and started borrowing and borrowing and borrowing - it was out of control. unmanageable debt is the real issue in the housing crisis - not just the home prices. people can't tap into equity lines anymore because there is no equity, and they're running up credit cards at historical numbers. i read that the next wave will be the prime housing market to default - including the alt-a borrowers. banks aren't loaning any money, so, to my mind's eye, how can they stay in business? it's their business...right?...to loan money, that is? there's no money to lend! fha, it appears, is the way to go right now for borrowers - best deal around.

This is no suprise to me at all. The average American consumer right now is living off of credit. I find it so sad that the debt is so unmanageable that people have to use credit to buy groceries and other daily necessaties. I know a lot of people who are drowning in debt, and it isn't because of extravagant shopping sprees, it is because they have had to turn to credit to make purchases that should be paid for cash, such as food, and gas.
Although we are repeatedly told that we are not in a recession. I strongly beg to differ. This economy right now is a wreck. I can only hope that it gets better.