The events of last week’s roil of the financial markets signified a brave new world for users of highly leveraged debt. The banks finally had enough. Of course, the word “housing” was thrown in after recent announcements of bank woes, weak housing prices, months of the subprime morass, a bad night’s sleep on my part and voila!, a vortex was born.

Here’s a list of links to put you in a tailspin, err…, a vortex:

* Pixie dust pollyanna: you can’t simply wish real estate markets back on track [TheStreet.com]
* Mortgage Bankers Association Video Clip On Shiny Happy People Who Can’t Make Their Mortgage Payments
* How Long Will Home Prices Defy Falling Sales? [Realty Times]
* Tapping Equity in an Emergency [NYT]
* Resembling a constipated owl: absolutely nothing is moving [PIMCO]
* What a Difference a Week Makes! [Goldseek]
* Do you know what a Recession really is? [Wikipedia]
* WTF is going on in the ABX Markets? [BigPicture]
* Franco Is Still Dead, and Housing Is Still Bust [Bloomberg]
* Americans are saving more, despite homequity loans [WSJ Economics Blog]
* Odds rise on a late year rate cut [Cleveland Fed]
* The Sum of Some Fears [NYT]