The Whole World is Drowning, How Long Before Somebody Turns Off the Faucet?

Question/Comment: Yesterday I saw a TV ad for mortgages to people with no credit history, job or social security number. The whole world is drowning, how long before somebody turns off the faucet?

Paul Solman: There’s got to be a witty retort to your question playing off your name, Ms. Trend, but fortunately for us all, I’m not going to try too hard to make it.

There must be fly-by-night operators still out there, but the stories I hear and read about involve the UNavailability of housing credit right now.

For the most part, in most places, the problem is that the faucet has been turned off. (For a graphic rendition of the issue where I arguably did try too hard to be witty, see our story on liquidity.

And for a somewhat less visually strained elaboration of the resulting problem – the credit crunch – you can watch a previous segment of mine from September.