I was just chatting to an American friend mine about the economic situation, as you do these days, and they were telling me about the so-called ‘king of foreclosure’ Odell Barnes. Apparently, this guy is buying up more and more foreclosed homes (what we in the UK would call repossessed). He must have some portfolio. It seems that something like a thousand homes a week are being foreclosed/repossessed.

OK, so that might be not such hot news in these times, but just think for a moment about the psychological impact of having your home repossessed. I recently worked with a man who had lost everything, largely due to tumbling shares prices. He said he felt emasculated. Strong word, but it’s easy to see why he felt like a failure. Our consumer society just sets so much store by money. Money appears to give us status, and security, and to meet a whole host of other emotional needs besides, that when times get hard we can feel we’ve totally lost our bearings.

Fortunately this guy got his life back on track, but I’m predicting that there’s going to be a lot more, and increasingly severe, psychological and physical health fall-out from this recession. It’s not just people like Odell Barnes who are going to be very busy…

Mark