Who Will Buy ?

By 2005, it was obvious that housing was too expensive, and too many people were speculating on the hopes that real estate would go up 10% a year, forever.

It's seems obvious now that the U.S. consumer, and the U.S. in general, is deep in debt, and that this deficit spending has been the primary driver of world economic growth over the last two decades. Our ability to borrow comes from our status as a reserve currency.

A few other countries have boosted domestic spending during this time, trying to be less reliant on the U.S. consumer. But nation states competing against each other for capital and industry , are loath to take measures to raise wages. This is particularly true for emerging economies, whose primary advantage is an army of low wage workers.