[daepp]

It seems to me, more so every day as we sink into this current financial quagmire, that it is all related to debt. Too much CC debt. Too much mortgage debt. Too much corporate debt. Too much municipal debt. Too much state debt. And too much Federal debt. And it was all used to mask other problems and to live beyond our means.

And I love the fancy words we have for it - commercial paper, bonds, subprime, alt-a, revolving...it's all just debt. One of the single best pieces of advice I got from my depression era parents was stay out of debt.

It is the root of the problem in the markets today. The result has been an awakening or an epiphany - there's plenty of cash, but now no one want to extend more debt or get further in debt (except the government).