[Morgaine]

I've really appreciated all your thoughtful comments. I heard an interesting story on NPR (which, by the way, segments of our government is trying to take away funding for). There is a realtor in Miami, who is Canadian, who "specializes" in selling property to Canadians (he referred to Florida as the 11th province). it's a perfect storm for him - housing prices in Florida are down 40 - 50%, interest rates in Canada are low. AND, Canada didn't experience a real estate collapse because there was no sub-prime lending. That shocked me - it never occurred to me that sub-prime lending was U.S. specific. One part of me says "if we're suppose to be the greatest nation, why is it that we so stupid". Another part tells me that the obvious reason is that everything is focused on the rich getting richer and corporate greed. The rich have money, the poor can get the increasingly limited social services, and the middle class is getting crunched (not the word I wanted to use).