This, in my view, is the one element of the current financial troubles that could prolong them indefinitely:
According to this week's Barron's, "a new phenomenon of widespread negative equity - homeowners owing more on their mortgage than the underlying property is worth - has wrought a sea change in borrower behavior. Borrowers whether subprime or prime, financially stretched or flush with cash, are walking brazenly from their obligations in stunning numbers" (emphasis mine). How they can just walk away and not face serious legal consequences, I am not too clear about. I read somewhere that it would simply be too costly for banks to actually go after each and every person who sends in the house keys. This new home abandonment fad could become a lasting symbol of this coming (already upon us?) recession.