"How we got here" - in this mortgage crisis with global fallout - will be discussed for a decade. It may even make it to the history books because its effects are so far-reaching.

"How are we going to get out of here?" is the real question, sometimes whispered, sometimes shouted, always asked with fervency powered by how much one has to lose. Some of the whisperers in the subprime lending crisis are builders or manufacturers who fear how long it's going to be before it's over.

Investors across the board are talking aloud about mortgage investment fallout, because of the housing crisis's affect on the NASDAQ and the DOW.

Emory University's knowledge bank offers this, “The stock market keeps expecting the Fed to ride to the rescue with lower interest rates, but to some degree we’re in the current sub-prime and consumer debt crisis because of low interest rates,” says T. Clifton Green, a professor of finance at Goizueta. “The low rates spurred consumers to dig deep into debt to purchase homes, and then to get deeper into debt by leveraging their homes as an investment tool.”

Homes are not meant to be investments. Homes are not meant to be tax shelters. Homes are meant to be places of refuge for families, not lottery tickets to big money. Had only the bankers, debenturers and buyers remembered that!