Reality is that when the worlds #1 consumer spending economy takes it in the chin, the rest of the world is soon to follow.  As the United States has delt with one of the most severe deflationary real estate spirals in recent history, Europe and Asia have not witnessed slow downs as of yet in their economies.  But they are now facing a big problem, and in some ways it maybe a temporary answer to the energy price problem in the states.

An interesting article I read this morning <ARTICLE> points out that Europe and Asia are about to get hammered with their own debt and credit crisis.  It doesn't mean that the crisis in the United States will get much better, but it does point out that the Euro's are in for some really hard times.

The silver lining in this mess is that 2009 should be great for energy and commodity prices.  With a huge reduction in demand there will be little justification for investors to keep their money in oil futures.  As general commoditie prices subside, so well the threat of inflation. The big questions are how many employers will be able to hold on another 12 months in the United States.  Unfortunately they're is going to be a large spike in unemployment before this market get's better, which of course means the real estate market isn't going to see a healthy bounce for some time either.  Those who thought the real estate market would rebound by the end of 2008 may have been too optomistic.

Here is one that is hoping that if oil goes down significantly in 2009 and that the US consumer will feel confident in purchasing real estate.