I have mixed feelings about this, as the coming defaults are going to affect different folks in different ways. My dearly departed gran-dad lived through the ‘Great’ depression and I remember him telling me that some folks made bank during the time. For example, a friend of his that was in the repo business.
My point is that while RE-related industries will be hit hard, others may be unaffected or even feel a stimulus. For example, I work in higher education where we often see increased enrollment during recessionary periods as people stay in school longer, or return for more advanced degrees.
I’ve seen elsewhere the excellent point that should RE end up in the toilet, those that still have jobs will end up spending less on housing and pump more money into the general economy. This might make up somewhat for the shortfall created when folks can no longer use their homes as ATM’s.
