Originally Posted by Checkerboard Strangler
I mentioned that early on in my post.

No you didn't. I re-read your post and you make it seem that only those that have lived beyond their means will suffer... what I'm saying is that everyone will suffer, including those that have lived modestly.

And BTW, Bernake is correct. Credit has been the lifeline of our economy for quite some time. Why? Because a lot of the assets companies hold are not liquid thus cannot be used to pay for payrolls, raw materials, operating costs etc.

Can you imagine having WEALTH to create 100 cars, you make them, then you have to fire your workers until some if not all of those cars are sold so you have cash to buy raw materials and pay the workers to build more. Whereas, if you use your assets as backing for a loan, you can maintain production while you sell those cars.

I do agree with you that Wall Street has gone crazy since 1999 and the deregulation of a lot of the financial world. Rules have to be implemented to reduce the chance of another collapse. Our government has failed up because they did not take the necessary precautions of limiting the growth during good economic times in order to cushion the fall in the bad economic times.

The bigger the bubble, the bigger the burst... and the real estate bubble was huge.

A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials. ~Chinese Proverb

The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese. ~Jon Hammond