Readers sugested a topic on future concerns. "I would like to know what future scenarios keep people here potentially awake at night. What kinds of unfolding events related to the housing bubble seem rather plausible and make people’s anxiety go up? Thanks!"

A reply, "Unplanned pregnancies and having to buy a house in this current market."

One from Texas, "Crime, crime, and more crime. The local news last night did a story highlighting the almost 40% surge in property crime since the beginning of the year. Panhandlers (some proffesional, will get in their BMW parked out of sight and drive off at dusk) on almost every street corner, some brazzen enough to assault your car and/or you in it. Several weeks ago, I went to my first 'gun show' to price various firearms. For those who have never heard of a gun show, imagine a traveling flea market with guns, really popular in Texas. I’ve been eyeing a 12-gauge pistol grip Mossberg for the house (wife, two kids at home) and may even see ’bout one a dem fancy conceal/carry permits for a pistol in the family car."

One added, "Boy do I hear ya! I’ve recently started locking myself in my car when I stop at a gas station after starting the pump because I keep getting accosted by individuals wanting spare change cuz they’ve ran out of gas and can’t get to work."

Another posted, "I worry about property crime…but I’ve always been that way. I’m in a temporary housing situation now, but once I get settled in to a permanent location (probably some time later this year or early next) one of the projects on the top of my list is a total surveillance system around the entire property."

An economic angle, "The collapse of a huge number of small businesses and the impact this will have on the economy as we may find out that too many of them were focussed entirely on wants not needs. I’m talking about closet organizers, scrapbook suppliers and consultants, gift basket makers, spas, anything related to the wedding industrial complex, doggie day care and cat psychics, college consultants that guide children through a 10 year planning process to get into Tufts, etc."

"A lot of these are classic second earner jobs and our current standard of living requires the second income. What if it all goes poof? There is the slightest possiblilty that it will all match up - that the people who bring in the second incomes will loose their jobs but everyone will be lowering their standard of living (if you think life is better with a $100 haircut instead of a $20 one) all together and all will be well - sort of like JP Morgan buying Bear Stearns and all of a sudden they don’t have to worry about their risk as counterparty to the credit default swaps backed by Bear. But I don’t think so."

One replied, "These businesses seem to go poof on their own all the time anyway. I can’t believe all the dumbass flower shops, boutique furnishing joints and niche restaurants are started up by - who, doctors’ wives? Lawyers wives? Or some worthless flake who came into big bucks somehow, only to blow it on an ill-conceived business? They come and go all the time here. It shouldn’t matter to me, I guess, but I keep wondering what on earth are they thinking - and when they go to sell the business, why should anyone help them get out from under it?"

"There was a gourmet place started here by a local guy who was a chemistry scholar who then went into some business venture, investment banking or whatever, then came back here to start what he thought was God’s Gift to Greek & Italian cuisine. Only he knew how to prepare the dishes properly! He spent a fortune on the place, because he was going to do it right! But the food was just,…average. Place was packed for a couple months like any new restaurant. A year later he has to close up. The place (an old JB’s Big Boy) is still for lease two years late. I just shake my head at this stuff."

"Guess that’s why I’m not in business for myself."

An observation, "The comment about doctors is true. We have the first panic sell on our street (all offers considered, 20% off, etc the 1st week he put the place on the market for sale). Turns out this person is a doctor and decided to invest (apparently every cent he had and all he could HELOC) in a new specialty restaurant and lost everything. The restaurant is now boarded up and he and his wife moved out of their house after dark one night last week."

And another, "You only have to watch ‘Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares’ on BBC America to see that overweening egos and restaurants are the perfect way of stripping yourself of your nest egg.
The majority of restaurants never make it to thier first anniversary. Its hard work, and not suited to dillitantes."

One was specific, "Technology failures, power delivery failures, information stream failures, water delivery failures, earthquake, famine, revolution, flood."

The Tucson Citizen "Crappy economy? Get used to it. You can even call it a recession with the blessing of University of Arizona economist Marshall Vest. Vest, well known for finding optimism when others see gloom, went right to the R word Wednesday morning when he and fellow UA economist Gerald Swanson gave the summer version of their twice yearly economic forecast to 400 local business leaders."

"'Let's start with the economy has slipped into recession,' Vest said. 'It's a full-blown recession.'"

"Vest said Arizona is one of nine states in recession. The others: California, Nevada, Florida, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Ohio and Rhode Island."

"'Housing is the biggest challenge for us,' Vest said. "We're in the biggest decline since World War II. There's no sign of a bottom yet," Vest said. "We will work through it. By some accounts, the credit crunch is still building. We may be halfway through. I don't know how you can tell that.'"

"'We know something is wrong,' Swanson said. 'We're just not sure how to get out of it.'"

"There have been substantial local job losses in construction, the leisure sector, professional and business services, the finance sector and manufacturing, but data shows higher levels of education are leading to better job security. Swanson said the unemployment rate for high school dropouts is 21 percent, while for high school graduates it's 12.9 percent, for those with some college it's 6.9 percent and for those with bachelor's degrees or higher it's 3.1 percent."

"Still, consumer spending is down across the board. 'We have a rather strange economy,' Swanson said. 'The new mantra is 'Honey, what's for dinner?' 'Whatever is on sale.'"

The Herald Tribune. "The pain of the great plunge in sales and prices is still being felt in Cape Coral. While it might barely register among the ritzy homes in the southwestern region of the savanna-like city, it is crushing those who invested in the more generic houses in the northern reaches."

"Business has been extremely good at Larry's Estate Jewelry and Pawn shop. 'Anybody that was in the real estate market, they make up half our customers,' said David Close, manager of the shop for 15 years. 'It was never like this.'"

"When pawning merchandise, the seller must list his occupation. More these days, it is 'mortgage broker' or 'builder' or 'developer.'"

"Close said he has never had more one-carat diamond rings being pawned by those who now need money for mortgage payments, rent or gas. Amid the slot machine for $169, the air compressor for $350 and the fishing rod and reel for $79, sits an impressive row of jewelry cases filled with rings, gold necklaces and pricey ankle bracelets. Most of the items were not pawned: They were out-and-out sold, something Close says was not commonplace before the real estate downturn."

"'It's been building toward this for the last two years,' Close said. 'The mortgage brokers we see in here might have made $5 million three years ago, but it was all in paper, not cash.'"

"Entering Cape Coral's northeast section on Burnt Store Road...more houses come into view and then they become numerous, all fairly new and most with shiny aluminum pool enclosers. Some sit unfinished, abandoned by builders gone bust. Five miles in, newly planted trees line the median of the road and the occasional cluster of homes gives way to identical townhomes, packed tightly."

"Cheryl Custer works as a cash register clerk. Custer, a Cape Coral native, spent nearly two decades as a mortgage processor. She burned out toward the end of the housing boom, but still has a lot of friends in the business. She had to take the clerk's job because her husband, a builder, has been out of work for months."

"'It's the worst I've ever seen it,' Custer said. 'We have people coming in here every day who tell me they are just about to get kicked out of their homes and head up north.'"

"Custer's home has dropped in value from $287,000 to $102,000 in two years. 'We've been living off our savings, which are now like this,' she said, using thumb and forefinger to make a zero. 'We are just trying to hold onto our house.'"

The Tallahassee Democrat. "As the economy takes a dip, the Big Bend Crime Stoppers' cash rewards for tips that lead to arrests are looking like extra income to some area residents. 'People are looking for other avenues to generate revenue, and reporting crime is a nice clean way to do it,' said Allen Stucks, executive director of Crime Stoppers. ''We have seen a jump in more people paying attention to crime where in the past they considered it someone else's problem.'"

"Crime Stoppers gives out rewards of up to $1,000 to anonymous tipsters when their information leads to arrests. From October 2007 to April 2008, people called in 900 tips to the hot line. In the same period the previous year, people called in about 400 tips. Arrests resulting from those tips increased from 26 to 124. The number of cases cleared by those arrests also increased, from 68 to 232."

"The poor economy is driving people all over the country to phone in more Crime Stoppers tips, said Elaine Cloyd, president of Crime Stoppers USA. 'I think we're seeing it particularly in areas throughout the south and the west, where there are more home foreclosures and where there's higher unemployment,' she said."

"Crime Stoppers' cash rewards are usually between $300 and $700, said Tallahassee Police Officer Kathy McGhin, who works with Crime Stoppers. McGhin said she has heard some tipsters say they are turning in people they know because they owe them money."

"'I've had a couple people say, 'I wouldn't have done this, but I need the money,' McGhin said. 'Some people were very appreciative that they got a reward.'"