Those owning homes will be hit hard, by the threat of negative equity and reposession.

The older looking to retire in the next 5 or 10 years will have taken a big hit on their retirement pots and may have to defer that retirement or enjoy a lower standard of living.

Those with savings are suffering because of inflation reducing the value of those savings.

While people not in the above groups may not be feeling the effects of the downturn yet, very few demographic groups will be left unaffected. The debt binge this country has been on individual’s, companies and the governement alike will have ramifications.

Those who have overstretched will have to start paying back their debt, or they may have the debt facility taken away from them thus leading to additional problems. Either way their spending will have to be reigned in and this reduced consumption will feed down to everyone as lower demand means less workers needed.

It isn’t all doom and gloom, those that can weather the storm,remain employed and hold it together. Should benefit from house prices at a more sensible level in two or three years. But everyone is in for some stress in the coming years.

It sounds as if your family are going through the mill right now, I am sorry to hear that. Whilst I understand what you are saying, I do not believe these circumstances would be any easier to deal with, credit crunch or not. That’s a huge responsibility whatever the economy is like.

And my sister just lost her hubby (he died) and he was their only source of income. She is going to be losing her house in a few months too, and having to move in with me soon too. My house is not meant to hold so many people. My septic system will probably explode from overuse, and my well will probably dry up.

So I’m glad that for you life is good. Not so for many other people.

When this whole thing first started for you guys, I thought it would barely effect us. However, I am surprised to see just how Canada is so tied into the American economy.