One more life question for ya... If you lost your job today (like our REIC friends), would you be OK? Are you prepared?

Are you one of the millions of no-savings debt-monkeys running around America and Europe tonight, maxed out to the teeth, living beyond your means, and assuming the good times will last forever?

Or are you an HP'er?

From "do you want granite countertops with that" to "would you like fries with that" - oh, what a difference a housing crash makes

Mortgage brokers

Appraisers

realtors

Homebuilders

Illegal immigrant roofers

Title agents

Pottery Barn employees

Decorators

Bankers

Lenders

Home Depot workers

HGTV employees

Architects

Landscapers

Real estate school teachers

Construction workers

Plumbers

Fencers

Pavers

Newspaper advertising sales staffs

Investment bankers

Millions will now lose their jobs.

Millions.

Thank you Alan Greenspan, Bush, Congress, NAR, realtors and the rest. You really f*cked us. Hope it was worth it.

What he does see is a difficult road ahead for rest of this year as the subprime mortgage meltdown takes its toll. It claimed another direct victim this week with the failure of American Home Mortgage Investment, a company that until yesterday employed 7,000 people. Today, about 90 per cent of them are looking for other work.

The indirect impact of such job losses on the economy is just beginning. And it promises to be painful, as all bursting bubbles tend to be.

“We know that the unwinding of the subprime situation is still ahead of us, rather than behind us,” Mr. Chan said.

Sifting through the latest labour market numbers released yesterday, he noted the slower job growth, but warned “that the other shoe” has yet to drop. Translation: Expect big housing-related job losses to weigh down the economy