I once had a conversation with a friend of mine. He asked rhetorically why should a saver be punished for the irresponsible actions of someone else (a debtor's) - whether the punishment be future government fueled infaltion for paying down debt, taxpayer funded bailouts, etc... I said we are all part of the same coin the debtor and saver are flip sides of the same coin. That debtor, whether he be an individual in a McMansion with 6 flat screen TVs, or a gov't - local, state or federal with out of whack budgets, or a corporation heavily in debt - all these players allowed the rest of us to make a lot of money. Their debts and spending habits multiplied both the quantity and velocity of money. WE ALL PROFITED. Those days are over. The questions now are: how much will the economy self-adjust to sustainable levels, what does that mean to both savers and investors, and what does that mean to income levels and asset values? When you really think it through, one way or another, we all profited from this fictitous bubble economy. Whether that profit meant a fat investment account or multiple flat screen TVs - they are all fruits of the same debt tree. Unfortunately, I regret not buying expensive toys and going on more vacations. After all, when this fiasco is over, we will all be poorer, money will lose a lot of value through future inflation - but those flat screen TVs "purchased" by the irresponsible consumer will still exist. Such is the irony of fate.