This times a few million is the problem. We will not get back to a properly working economy until housing is sold at market clearing prices.
That would make an uncomfortably large number of big banks immediately insolvent.
This game of "Let's Pretend" is going to go on for quite a while longer.
To your earlier point about conservative values and entrepreneurism, it's quite remarkable how many "entrepreneurial" pursuits these days are nothing but scams. Internet marketing being the biggest, although the economy a decade ago was heavily based on another one - mortgage lending. We don't make things and provide services to our local communities, we scam globally - thus the need for "constant re-invention" as each scam gets figured out and avoided by the public.
IT work is one of those scams, by they way. The "mystery of computers" led to gross overcompensation by companies who found the whole process of automation a headache - now the backlash is leading to undercompensation and outsourcing. Where there is value, there will eventually be stability. The hard lesson for many long-time IT workers is that they have not been providing nearly as much value as they thought they were.