In a deflationary world (and this is global) which has grown on excessive credit you have a situation where almost every asset's value (shares, property, commodity, artwork, penisons, etc) is now falling off a cliff. Many of these 'assets' are/were funded and underpinned by excessive and easy credit/debt, often based or funded on 'false' investment vehicles.....basically we (individuals, companies, coutries) have just lost loads of 'value' - value that was actually false - and still owe the debt that funded it....that folks is a depression. Globally, people and governments are beginning to realise this. The boom is over and we are all in for a very, very hard time, with falling incomes, asset value, etc even though 'things' will nominally be cheaper....we are especially f*cked as we have the highest level of personal debt in the world and much of our 'income' for the past 15 years has been built on Financial Services which is now an especially F*cked industry......the markets realise it which is why my poor old names sake the ? is 20% down......at a real extreme we could yet do an Iceland (country not store). Thanks Gordon, just been watching him deny any culpability in fuelling this idiocy on the Politics Show..."no more boom and bust". etc...what really makes me puke is that he, in all honesty is loving this, as it gives him an oustide chance of not being bung out on his ear...history will judge him a disaster