"Do I hear the theme from Jaws?"

The seldom cheerful but often cogent Krugman:

The important point to remember is that the bursting of the stock market bubble hurt lots of people - not just those who bought stocks near their peak. By the summer of 2003, private-sector employment was three million below its 2001 peak. And the job losses would have been much worse if the stock bubble hadn't been quickly replaced with a housing bubble.

So what happens if the housing bubble bursts? It will be the same thing all over again, unless the Fed can find something to take its place. And it's hard to imagine what that might be. After all, the Fed's ability to manage the economy mainly comes from its ability to create booms and busts in the housing market. If housing enters a post-bubble slump, what's left?

Atrios suggests that Greenspan has a plan involving Star Wars toys and Remington Steele lunch boxes.

As someone who lost a bundle in that stock bubble collapse, and who now has the bulk of his assets in his house in a West Coast city, I kinda wish I hadn't read Krugman's column this morning. I pass it along because misery loves company.