These days that's been the more prevailing question over whether subprime lending will return and, as it would happen, the answer to both questions are related. Many prognosticators assert that the worst of it is still ahead of us. Others believe the tide is turning.
But all agree that if we do have a recession, it will be in part due to the subprime mortgage crisis, and that we would not emerge from either a recession or the subprime mortgage crisis until and unless we emerged from both.
That is why so many people in finance and government are working to try and pull us out of this subprime mortgage crisis so that we can better avoid a recession.
Recession or no recession, a couple of things seem certain, though. Housing prices aren't likely to rise until prospective homeowners can start qualifying for less risky and expensive mortgages. And the tide of foreclosures isn't likely to ebb until people can afford to meet their current loan agreements. Both of these situations require an increase and improvement in employment and a tight leash on inflation.