I remember it differently... Leica gear never collapsed. The M9 re-invigorated the market for Leica lenses...
John,
I was flush with cash in 2007 during the credit crisis, and I found that people were selling their treasures. Of course I'm talking specifically of prices of used gear.
Not that Adorama sells cheap, but I did a lot of cherry picking there. I was new to Leica and did my research and bought a 75 Lux V2 for $1.8K that was made in Germany (holds a $100.00 premium) and a 35 Cron V4 also made in Germany for $1250.00.
Years ago I unloaded these lenses and pretty much doubled my money.
It was about a year later that I bought my odd Wetzlar M6 titanium prototype that predates the M6 Titanium by about 5 years. I paid only $1K.
The credit crisis was a very good time for treasure hunting because like in the stock market there was mucho forced selling and people had to sell their treasures.
Of course the lenses were dead mint. I found it remarkable.
I believe in "regression-to-the-mean" and because of actions of the FED the housing bubble kinda got reinflated. At this point real estate has to go sideways for a long time if you believe in regression to the mean, and pretty much owning a home likely will be a "dead asset" (again if you believe in regression to the mean).
The debt loads, public, private, and corporate, are all at high levels, so again economics 101 says eventually the debt will become a problem.
Hard to say if the FED, World Bank and others could rescue us from another collapse. When the shoe drops it could be uglier than 2007-2008. The banks don't have so much ammo, interest rates are already low and look to go lower.
Meanwhile there still is mucho overcapacity... Understand that overcapacity=deflation.
Cal
