Big Think

Question: Have we seen the worst of the housing crisis?

Paul Krugman: Okay no.  Housing crisis is just in the first act, right?  The . . .  All the indications are that we’ll have . . . housing will be depressed for years to come.  A lot of the financial stuff, there are some charts that have been making the rounds showing the mortgage resets lying ahead that are likely to force a lot of people into . . . into delinquency and into foreclosure.  And those have just started.  There was a huge wave of lending with low teaser rates that expire after two years.  And that wave of lending took place in 2005, 2006.  So in the years coming, we’re going to start to have these . . . these terrible burden of, you know . . .  The financial situation will probably get substantially worse before it gets better.  So no.  Housing is . . . is gonna be a millstone around the economy’s neck for quite some time.