Martin S. Feldstein:

Without a program to stop mortgage defaults, there is no way to know how much further house prices might fall.

John Bird and John Fortune:

They thought that if they had a bigger mortgage they could get a bigger house. They thought if they had a bigger house, they would be happy. It's pathetic. I've got four houses and I'm not happy.

The Economist's Washington correspondent:

I thought I was unlucky graduating into the tech bust. I had no idea.

Judith Warner:

We're all losers now. There's no pleasure to it.