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.

Who knows if subprime lending will return? Not us. But together we can take an educated guess.

The common sense answer to the question of whether or not subprime lending will return is "Of course it will". Housing (including home lending) is cyclical, and all things cyclical ebb and tide, fade out and return.

As with securities and other forms of investment, the waxing and waning popularity of various loan instruments is most heavily dependent upon demand. The money is there to lend. The only question is how to lend it.

A lender with no borrowers is no lender at all. To stay in business, a lender has to offer instruments that have lending criteria which borrowers can actually meet. Otherwise, with no qualified borrowers, it can't do what it's in business to do - make loans.

All this is to say that as long as there is a demand for subprime loans, subprime lending will eventually be made available.