Reply #47: IMO to draw parallels between brokerage houses like

[wtmusic]

Bear Stearns and savings and loans is a mistake.

Bear Stearns had a good old-fashioned run on it last week -- investors freaking out because their subprime fund they expected to double their money on overnight was worth nothing. The problem was primarily greed and overexpectation.

But the assets underlying those funds, the real estate itself, is a different story. We can't pick up and move tomorrow if we decide our home is a bad investment, so the real estate market is typically the turtle to the stock market's hare. Panic plays a very small part. That doesn't mean there aren't serious problems (and WaMu has always been somewhat of a shady player among the bigger home lenders) and that they are going to go away tomorrow. But after living through several recessions my pessimism is tempered somewhat by the fact that predictions of national economic ruin are characteristic of every one.