While I don’t think there will be one epochal event that triggers the landslide, I do believe that a credit squeeze (if not outright crunch) is rapidly approaching. Given the “angst” in the markets right now, this would be a heavy blow to handle.

Not trying to reach here, but the problems that Blackstone, KKR, US Foodservice, et al are having regarding floating loans are indicative of a definite “mood” shift among investors.

I also believe you have to look at the housing bubble as one of three concurrent bubbles: Housing, stocks and credit. For a time, we were literally awash in liquidity. It financed everything from the housing run-up to LBOs and helped push stock prices as well.

While I don’t think there will be one single event that triggers a meltdown, I do believe the potential for one is out there. I keep thinking about LTCM’s collapse and how narrowly disaster was averted following. This feels a whole helluva lot bigger.