"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 10 Feb 2009 15:44:05 -0600, thunder
wrote:

Something is fundamentally flawed when a few fat
cats can bring down the world's economy.

It was more than a few. The problem became systemic and very wide
spread. Half of the people in south Florida, ordinary people for the
most part, were either involved in real estate speculation or helping
to facilitate it in some way. It was a lot of fun while the party
lasted and no one was complaining.


When we bought the first house in Jupiter one of my native neighbors tried
to get me into speculative investing. This was just before the end of the
explosion of house values. He was living high off the hog flipping houses
but was maxed out on his bank's willingness to extend further credit. He
wanted me to fund some additional investments, promising huge returns.

Being the conservative and economically stupid person I am, I passed. Good
thing. In less than a year the housing market crashed and he was stuck
upside down in several investments.

Eisboch