Quote from pitz:
And unlike houses, businesses actually produce stuff of value, create employment, fulfill China's huge pent-up demand for US-produced goods, etc.
Yes businesses actually produce value and create employment but with the economy already on its knees how many business can successfully prop up from this recession and create the kind of growth this economy saw just 2 short years ago. The millions of jobs lost over the last 2 years will NEVER be seen again. This is a totally different environment this economy is in compared to any time before. The growth this market and economy has seen over the last 2-3 decades will probably not be seen for another 50 years. The cycle in my opinion is broken and will be for a very long time.