It seems to me that the ripple of the housing defaults and re-mortgaging problems has only begun. I wouldn't be surprised if the props used so far are most of what can be done, and the problems to come will more or less have to be allowed to happen. I suppose it's possible for there to be more bailouts, but I also suppose those will come with more problems of their own, simply postponing the inevitable.

Exports will increase, but they'd have to increase a helluva lot. One possibility is grain, but more and more land is planted in corn, which barely breaks even in the energy in - energy out department. And growing corn for fuel takes away from exportable produce. (A friend's father is active in research to produce alcohols from cellulose, a problem which if solved could go a long ways toward helping with producing alcohol.)

As the credit crunch spreads, with fewer and fewer items purchased, higher costs for energy and energy dependent staples (anything transported by truck, produced with internal combustion engines, or power generated with natural gas) will be followed by more and more defaults. The economic problems might just have to cascade for a while.