People used to boast about hot stocks they owned. Now they crow about how much of their money is in cash. Those holding cash have been richly rewarded with no losses and opportunities to buy assets (condos and equities) at huge discounts.
As prices continue to decline, those that moved too quickly to buy at the bottom are seen as fools. Consider the massive losses of the sovereign wealth funds, Bank of America
12/05/2008BAC 14.17, -0.17, -1.2%) and Countrywide, and even Warren Buffett's latest foray into General Electric GE 17.14, -0.41, -2.3%) and Goldman Sachs
GS 67.27, -0.26, -0.4%) . Investors, convinced that prices will continue to decline, sit with their liquid resources on the sidelines. As that investment demand takes a holiday, prices will decline further