[Mr. Jeeves]

Anyone who paid the going price -- about $1.5 million -- in the late 1980s for a house in the upscale suburban Tokyo enclave of Setagaya-ku, for instance, knows the pain: The house is likely worth no more than $900,000 today, often less than what the owner owes on the mortgage. Michiko Kanai thought the three-story apartment building she put up 15 years ago on a plot of land her father owned would see her through to retirement and allow her to leave something for her children as well. Instead, her debts on the building likely exceed its value by a half-million dollars because of the fall in property prices.

Coming soon to a city near you. The San Francisco Bay Area is full of people who are going to be badly underwater if there is even a 20% drop in prices - at 40% there will be an immense tidal wave of foreclosures. Thank the banks and their "qualify every borrower who can breathe and chew gum at the same time" philosophy in recent years.

[oceanview]

real estate values in the US will adjust only when interest rates rise, since buyers base the price they are willing to pay on the monthly mortgage payment, not on the actual price they are paying for the property.

japan has no internal consumer based economy of their own, and with China taking their export markets, they are in trouble. their propensity to save is hurting them. they should be taxing savings. hold money in an account, you pay a tax on it every year. encourage people to spend. its radical, but they need it.